Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Investigators
by wolf expert
Summary: Quill is running out of hope of ever becoming an Investigation Team member. By Noctowl's advise, he goes to Shroud Lake and discovers a Riolu named Aamira. This is no normal Riolu, however. This Riolu has lost her memory and was apparently once human.
1. Chapter 1 A New Beginning

The early morning sunlight shone through the window of the Treehouse and ignited the flames on Quill's back. He slowly opened his eyes. The room was very small, but at the time he didn't have the money to do any renovating. It consisted of one window without any glass like the rest of the Treehouses in Vine City. The only things in the window were two tree branches tied together to make it look like windowpanes. In front of him was the ladder leading down to the base of the tree. To his left was his desk which was covered in his text books from the Pokemon Research Academy. Every day the work got harder and harder.

There was a rustling in the tree branches outside his window. Aipom suddenly appeared and climbed through the window. She had been Quil's life-long rival since they both decided to join the Academy. Both had dreams of becoming the better of the two, though they still considered each other friends.

"Rise and shine, sunshine!" she said as she squeezed through the window. She laughed the way she usually did and landed on Quill's desk. "C'mon! Get up! Get up!" She took a piece of fruit that was in a bowl on Quill's desk, sat down and started eating it with her tail.

Quill yawned and stretched, causing his flames to flare up bigger than before. "What day is it…?" he asked groggily.

"It's THE day! It's THE day!"

Quill just stared into space, still half asleep before jumping hurriedly off his bed, suddenly wide awake. "IT'S TODAY! I completely forgot!"

"Better get goin' less you wanna be late again." Aipom jumped out of the window and started jumping from tree to tree shouting "WAHOOOO!"

"Ah! I'm going to be late!" Quill started rushing around. "Where's my bag! Where is it!" 

"Alright, class!" Espeon said. "Let's start with roll call then we'll get down to business!" Pokemon had been piling into the large tree at the center of the city all morning with uncontainable excitement from the events that would soon take place. For this was a special day in the academy. Today was recital day. Everyone in Vine City came in to watch as the students talked about what they had learned. If they were found confident, calm, and of course, knowledgeable enough, they would graduate the Academy and begin their careers in different sections of town.

"Now, then." Espeon said. "I would seem that only one student isn't here today, so let's contin—"

"I'm here!" Quill burst through the large bark doors of the Academy and ran up to Espeon. "I'm so sorry I'm late Mrs. Espeon! I was so excited last night that I…" 

"Please save the talking for your Recital." Espeon said. "Now, take your seat and we'll begin in alphabetical order. Now then, first up is Aipom!" 

"Wahoo!" Aipom used her tail and a spring and jumped onto the stage in one leap from her desk. From the other side of the room, Headmaster Alakazam and Elder Noctowl, the two most important people in all of Vine Town watched carefully, which could only add on to the tension. 

Even under these conditions, Aipom spoke happily, calmly, and used the most diverse words anyone could put into a recital. "And that concludes my presentation!" She giggled a little as she rocked back on her legs and supported herself on her tail.  
>Alakazam and Noctowl whispered something, but it was too hard to hear through all the clapping.<p>

'They must be impressed!' Quill thought. The flames on his back leaped into life once again, causing his chair and his bag to catch fire. Everyone in the room yelled in surprise. 

"I got it!" Totodile stepped forward and used Bubble to extinguish the flames. 

"I-I'm so sorry everyone!" Quill said.

Espeon sighed. "Well, it's your turn anyway, Quill. Come on up and give your recital." 

"Uhh… right!" Quill turned around to get the paper he had written, only to realize that he had accidentally torched it. 'Oh, why couldn't I have memorized it like Aipom?' Suddenly embarrassed from realizing that everyone was watching him, Quill cringed and the flames on his back leapt to life again. This time even the ceiling caught fire. The tree moaned as Espeon and Alakazam tried to control it with their Psychics. 

"Maybe you should just wait outside…" Espeon said to Quill in a calm, soothing voice that did nothing to settle Quill's emotional pain. 

"Ohh…" Aipom said sadly from her seat. 

After a few minutes without anyone noticing, Elder Noctowl snuck out of the Academy to find Quill sitting alone on the vine-swing behind the school. As Noctowl approached, Quill looked up, startled, and the flames on his back ignited again, but feebly. 

"Do not let tears extinguish your flame, young one." Noctowl said to him. 

"Isn't that what everyone wants though!" Quill asked. "No one likes having a fire type pokemon in a city built into a forest!" 

"You see things the way you think they should be seen." Noctowl turned and looked in a different direction as if in deep thought. "But if you were to look farther than you want to see, you would see great things…"

"Are you saying that I'm not trying hard enough?" 

"No, that's not it at all. Look deep within yourself and ask yourself who you really are. When you find that answer, great things will happen. To you, and everyone else. Ah, yes… It's in there…"

"Huh? Wait, why are you telling me this?"

Noctowl laughed hoarsely. "I don't know, but you will someday. Try going to Shroud Lake. That's what I try to do whenever I need a quiet place to think." Noctowl headed off back to the Academy.

Quill just sat on the swing and looked at the place he had disappeared in for a while. After a while, he decided to go ahead and try what Noctowl suggested and headed towards Shroud Lake. 

"I'm here…" He said after a while. "But what do I do now that I'm here?"

Shroud Lake was called so because of the mist that eternally enshrouded it. The water in the lake was unbelievable. It had magical healing properties and made the trees in the area grow big enough for the pokemon to live in. Thousands of people constantly dedicated themselves to finding the secret that gave the lake its life. Although no testing could be done on the lake for fear they might destroy the reason they were researching it in the first place, many people still tried to find some less explainable reason the lake had such wonderful healing powers. Even the mist in the lake got rid of colds and could clear sinuses in an instant. So many pokemon were drawn to the lake's mysteries and eventually made Vine City close by. One of the people who was most passionate about discovering the mystery was Quill, but now it seemed that his dream would never come true. 

"I guess…" He said to himself after a while. "I guess I just need to pick myself up and try harder to pass next year! Yea! Like everyone always says, the flowers that bloom latest are often the most beautiful. Or strong in my case, I suppose."

Quill ran up to the lake and stuck is paw in it. The water was icy cold, which was weird since it was usually so warm this time of year. Quill looked out across the lake to try and discover what was causing it. Then he saw on the far bank of the lake, someone unconscious. It seemed strange though the way the fog seemed to dance around them and not come close. 

Quill ran over out of curiosity. It was a Riolu. It looked like it had been attacked and was badly hurt. Knowing from his class on medicine, Quill could tell that the breathing was irregular and the heartbeat was much too slow. Also, somehow, he could tell that it was in a lot of pain. 

"Oh, what do I do?" Quill said to himself. "Let's see… uh… for a high temperature, a wet rag, and some ointment made from certain herbs that grow around the lake… Oh, what was it called!" He paced around for a few second before figuring out how stupid he was being. "Oh, the name doesn't matter! I know what it looks like!" 

Quill picked some herbs from the lake bed and ran back up towards the injured Riolu. It was wearing a purple scarf. After wondering for a few minutes if it would be okay to take it, Quill decided that a scarf was worth sacrificing for someone's life. A few minutes later he started rubbing the ointment he made from the herbs on the Riolu's wounds. The wounds healed instantly and the icy cold water on the scarf from the lake started to bring its temperature down. 

Quill sighed in relief. "But there was something else…" He looked around and found the red berries that grew by the lake. When the juice was squished out of them, it could be drunk to heal internal injuries. They learned that when not knowing what an injured person was hurt by, it was always best. Of course, the Riolu couldn't really drink it until it woke up.

The sun started to go down, but Quill never left the Riolu, or tried to carry it to the town's healer, for fear that transporting the Riolu might worsen its condition. Suddenly the Riolu started flinching and its eyes started opening. It jumped when it saw Quill.

"Oh, you're finally awake!" He said. "You've been like this at least all morning!" 

"Like… what?" She asked.

"I grew up here and I don't think I've ever seen a Riolu around these parts." 

"R-Riolu!" She jumped up suddenly and looked around panic stricken. "And you're a… a Cyndaquil?"

"Well, yea…" He said. "I prefer to be called Quill though. But you should sit down and rest. You might still have internal injuries." Quill passed up the red berry juice to the Riolu. This lake and everything around it has healing powers. If you drink this, any internal injuries will be healed. 

The Riolu hesitated a second, then took the drink. When lifting the drink to her mouth, she caught her reflection and dropped the drink. "I… I really am a Riolu!" she said. 

"Hey, you know how hard it is to make that so it's just perfect?" Quill said, but he felt more like he was panicking than anything for some reason. 

"Oh, I-I'm sorry…" She said. "I was just shocked is all… But I think I'm fine either way. I'm not in any pain…" 

"Well… That's good at least!"

The Riolu slid down the side of the lake to the water and looked at her reflection, then groaned. "How did this happen?" 

"I'm sorry, but what?" 

"I'm not supposed to look like this! I… I WAS human!" 

"You were a human?" Quill laughed a little, but then suddenly felt desperate for some reason. "You're… serious?"

The Riolu nodded and started looking around. "I… I feel like I've been here before but… I'm having trouble remembering…" Riolu was quiet for a long time. "It's not just that… I can't remember anything…" 

"Really?" Quill slid down the bank carrying her scarf. "Does this look familiar? You were wearing it and I used it to bring your temperature down."

Riolu took the scarf. "This is… my scarf… I remember it at least." Riolu flipped it over. "There was something here I think…" On one half there was a symbol that looked like the sun with a crescent moon in front of it. The sun was yellow, the crescent moon was purple, and the circle around the crescent moon was a light blue. Something was written in shiny gold letters on the other half.

"Aamira…" The Riolu's eyes widened. "Aamira! That's my name! I remember now but… I still can't remember anything else…" 

"Why don't you come back to Vine City with me?" Quill asked. "Maybe the Elder or Headmaster will know something." 

"Elder and Headmaster?"

"Yea. Elder Noctowl is really wise. He's actually the one that told me to come here. Weird, huh? And Headmaster Alakazam knows everything! He's so cool! I'm sure one of them would know what to do!" He led the way up the seep lakebed. "Oh, and then there's Chansey the Healer. I bet she could help too." 

"Well I already had a great healer help me." Aamira said. 

"Oh, I'm not a healer." Quill said. "It was just one of the things I learned at the Research Academy. What I really want to do is become an Investigation Team member!" 

"Investigation Team…?" 

Quill was shocked. "You mean you don't… Oh, I guess you wouldn't know. I'll explain that later." 

"So let me get this straight…" Alakazam said. "You found your Riolu friend, Aamira, next to the lake and was able to heal her with the things you found around the lake?" 

"Yea and she said she used to be human and can't remember anything!" Quill said nervously. 

"Oh, really?" Noctowl said. "This is unusual… But, why so tense? This isn't like you." 

"Oh, it's nothing I don't think!" Quill said. "But Noctowl, sir, you were the one that told me to try going to the lake. Surely you know something." 

"I'm afraid not." He said. "I knew you would find something at the lake, but not what, or in this case who, it would be. I'm afraid I've never heard of a human turning into a pokemon and loosing their memories."

Aamira's head lowered. 

"Nor have I…" Alakazam said at the desperate look in Quill's expression. 

At that moment Chansey entered the city hall where Quill and Aamira went since Quill knew that Noctowl would most likely be there. "I got here as fast as I could." She said. 

"Here, this might help." Chansey handed Aamira an Aspair Berry. Because of the lake, everything in the area had stranger effects than normally wouldn't even be possible. It was said that Aspair Berries could clear the mind and bring back memories when grown in the forest, but they were really hard to grow in the forest. 

Aamira took the berry from Chansey. 'Star.' Aamira looked around confused. 'What was… Star?' Aamira looked at Chansey. "Did you by any chance have a nickname when you were little?" She asked. "Star?" 

Chansey's eyes widened. "H-how did you know that?" 

"I'm not sure… It was just a thought or something…" 

"This sure is strange…" Alakazam said. "I didn't know that, but it seems you knew who Chansey was when you don't even know who you are." 

"I've never met a human before though…" Chansey said. "Try the Aspair Berry. You might remember something." 

Aamira took a bite of the berry. It was really soft; the opposite of how it would normally be. She waited for a few seconds then shook her head. "Nothing…"

Quill's head drooped. 

Noctowl noticed it. "You seem to be more discouraged than Aamira. What's wrong with you today?"

Quill looked around nervously. "I know this might sound weird but, ever since Aamira woke up, I've been having a bunch of weird emotions and I don't know where they're coming from!" 

"That's not strange at all." Alakazam said. "We normally let students find out about pokemon out in the field, but I'll go ahead and tell you this much. Riolu is the Emanation pokemon. Riolu have the ability to emanate their feelings so that other people can feel them." 

"So." Quill said. "I've been feeling what you feel?" 

"It's not like I'm trying to do it." Aamira said. "I didn't even know about this until just now." 

"So you're not doing it on purpose?" Noctowl asked. "Young Riolu are said to not be able to control their ability, but in that case we should all feel what you do. Very curious that only Quill would be able to feel your emotions and I sensed that what he found would be useful only to him…" 

Suddenly Chansey and Alakazam's eyes widened. 

"Sir," Alakazam said. "are you saying what I think you are?" 

"Yes." Noctowl said. "Pokemon learn better in the field. What Quill couldn't learn in school he might learn in the real world, and Aamira might find her lost memory. His quick thinking in saving Aamira speaks for itself. Actions speak louder than words, after all."

Quill looked shocked. "D-do you mean…!" 

"Yes." Noctowl said. "I hereby declare your graduation from the Pokemon Research Academy. Starting tomorrow, you can pick the job you would like. I believe that it was an Investigation Team member that you really wanted to be." 

Quill's mouth broke into a wide smile and he started laughing hysterically. "I'm going to be an Investigation Team member!" 

"But wait…" Aamira said. "Isn't a team more than one person? Are you saying that I should be part of the team too?" 

"As I said before." Noctowl said. "You might just find your lost memory. The ultimate investigation, I believe it will be." 

"You… really think so?" Aamira was also smiling and laughing like Quill, though more out of nervousness than excitement. "But, I still don't know what an Investigation Team is. I would like to at least know what it is that I'm being signed up for." 

"Okay." Chansey said. "I think it would be best if you three filled her in, and I'll go tell the construction team to start making plans for their Investigation Headquarters." 

"We get our own HQ!" Quill asked.

"Of course." Chansey said. "You may already know this, but I'll say it anyway for Aamira. In the forest lives a group of pokemon called the construction team. Their leader, Smeargle, designs the buildings, then his partners Jigglypuff and Chatot use different sound frequencies to coax the trees to grow certain ways, that way no plants are hurt. It's very exhausting work though, so we can only afford to make a few pokemon Investigation Team members a year. You're really lucky. In fact, only four other pokemon were chosen to be Investigation Team members." 

"I bet I can guess two of them!" Quill said. "Aipom and Mankey! And they chose the name Team Sky, didn't they? They always talk about how it feels like they're flying when swinging from branches by their tails."

Chansey laughed. "Yes, that's exactly it! Then there's another two who call themselves Team Rapids." She said as she left the town hall.

"Oh no…" Quill said. "Don't tell me it's them… Crawdaunt and Croconaw?" Sensing her confusion, Quill explained. "While Mankey and Aipom have always been my rivals and friends, Crawdaunt and Croconaw have been more like bullies than rivals. A few times I almost gave up because of them, but Aipom and Mankey kept egging me on. And I'm glad too! It feels weird that we're going to be competing against each other now instead of working together."

"Be that as it may…" Alakazam said. "They had the second highest scores behind Team Sky. You, obviously had the lowest because you didn't really do anything as far as school was involved."

"Yea, I suppose I couldn't have…" Quill said. "Oh, but Aamira doesn't know anything. She hasn't gone to the Pokemon Academy." 

"Well, then you'll just have to teach her everything you know. Like what an Investigation Team is."

"Oh, yea!" Quill turned to Aamira. "Well, for starters, most Investigation Teams are these awesome pokemon that seem to be able to do almost everything! We solve crimes, look for missing items, take down outlaws, and solve mysteries. In fact, the places we most often work are called Mystery Dungeons. They're really strange. Every time you go into one it's an entirely different layout, so it's always a new adventure! Sometimes money can be found in them along with special items that clients might ask for. And if you get defeated in one by an enemy pokemon, you get kicked right out of the dungeon and end up here in town hall. You even loose all your money and half or more of your items! Also dungeons are a big cause of missing person's cases. Some people that get curious and want to solve a Dungeon Mystery might ask for an escort. There's no telling what might happen then. Rare pokemon, rare items, or nothing could be found at all. You never know!"

"It seems like Investigation Teams are supposed to make new discoveries and help keep the peace." Aamira laughed a little. "I thought it must be more than just a clever name, but it sounds really important."

"Yea, especially since pokemon around here have been going bad lately."

"What do you mean?"

"For reasons no one knows, in places dungeons pop up, pokemon loose all their sense, all their knowledge, and just become more like monsters that attack anything that moves that isn't like them. Luckily though, we're safe here in Vine City because of Shroud Lake's healing powers. Sometimes someone might have been traveling and got caught when a dungeon formed and someone may ask us to find them. In that case the only thing to do is to capture them and bring them to the lake where they regain their sense. I've seen it happen before and it looks terrible, but all is well afterwards. But are you more scared or worried? I can't really tell…"

"I'm not sure… Just the thought of what happens to pokemon is horrible… It might even have something to do with me loosing my memory if they loose their sense." 

"It looked like you were attacked or something… I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that though."

'I was attacked?' Aamira thought. 'What's going on around here?'

"Oh, I guess I should give you the tour too."

"Just one thing." Noctowl said. "I think it would be best for all involved than neither of you say anything about Aamira once being human. At least not yet. Who knows what sort of uproar it could cause?" 

"We understand." Quill led the way out of the town hall and into the main part of Vine City to the south. 

Over on the left, Quill showed her the bank that was being run by a Sableye. To the right was what he called a help center, where job notices were posted along with outlaw posters, which were also scattered all around town. South of those were the Keckleon shop and Kangaskhan's storage. Apparently Kangaskhan and the Keckleon sisters also had relatives working in other regions. 

In another part of town was an appraisal, and a link shop that allowed moves to be used at the same time. All the buildings really were made in the trees. It was a strange sight to anyone that hadn't grown up here. 

"That big tree in the middle of the clearing." Quill said. "That's the Academy. I was supposed to give a recital to pass, but this way I guess I got a team member too! And I accidentally burned my paper…" 

Aamira laughed. "It's amazing that all these buildings could be made from the trees…" 

"Some people even think the Academy tree is intelligent. When I accidentally set part of it on fire it sounded like it was moaning, but Alakazam and one of my teachers put it out. Oh, I forgot the most important part!" Quill led Aamira in front of the tree and pointed towards the left. "That road leads to the forest division. It's the biggest since the whole city is forest. That's where Team Sky lives." He pointed to the path to the south. "That's the river division. It's the second biggest because grass types love water so much. Team Rapids lives down there, I think. I try not to go down there if I can avoid it. And that way." Quill pointed to the right. 

"Must be the fire division." Aamira said. 

"Right. It's called the spark division. I live down there. It's the smallest since fire types aren't something you really want in a forest. I like it though; it's nice and quiet. I guess you'll be living down there now. I'm guessing my Treehouse is going to be modified to make our Investigation HQ. They'll probably add an extra room and an office. Hope you don't mind heights!" 

"I'm not really sure, but I'll get used to it." 

"Quill?" Espeon came running towards him. "Quill! I heard about what happened! You found an injured pokemon and healed it with the things I taught you! I'm so proud, you have no idea!"

"Mrs. Espeon! Oh, I wasn't expecting you to be here so late!" 

"Don't be silly. I knew you would be coming this way. I wanted to congratulate you on your graduation." Espeon turned to Aamira. "And you must be the pokemon he rescued! You'll be his team member now? That's so great! Watch after him for me." 

"Uh, sure! I promise!" Aamira smiled weakly. 

"Oh, and you should know, Smeargle and his team just finished with your HQ. Why don't you go check it out? And get some sleep too. You're inauguration into becoming an Investigation Team is first thing in the morning." 

"I'm not good with first things in the morning!" Quill said. 

"Well let's just hope that I'm an early riser!" Aamira said. 

"Oh, and we still have to pick a team name! Ah! Team Sky had theirs planned out for years and both Team Sky and Team Rapids had more time! So much to do! Will we have to make a speech or…" 

"Just relax." Espeon said. "It's nothing like a recital. You'll be fine. You just need to think of your team name and say the Investigation Team oath at the inauguration." 

"So uhh…" Quill turned to Aamira. "Do you have any ideas for a team name? I always thought I'd just think of one when I made it this far but… Now I can't think of one." Quill could feel that Aamira was thinking really hard. 

'They're Investigation Teams… Maybe something to go along with that theme… Nothing like Team Sky or Team Rapids though, that's for sure… Maybe…' "How about Team Sleuth?" She asked. 

"Why didn't I think of that?" Quill was obviously more excited than ever. "Yea, Team Sleuth is perfect!"

"Well then." Espeon said. "You two better go home and get a few hours of rest. It will be dawn before you know it." 

"Right. Let's go." Quill led the way down to the spark division. At the end, there was a large tree with a good sized Treehouse built into it. "That's where my Treehouse was. Wow, even the tree looks bigger!"

"It's hard to believe that was grown naturally and that the tree wasn't cut at all or anything like that." 

"Yup. Vine City is a strange place, that's for sure. Now we just have to get used to where the door is." Quill started knocking on the trunk of the tree until he found a hollow-sounding spot, pushed on it, and the door swung open. Quill stepped in and climbed up the ladder with Aamira fallowing. 

"Oh, shut the door, too. Wouldn't want someone coming up in the middle of the night. Well, technically it is the middle of the night, but you know what I mean."

Aamira turned around and saw a vine rope attached to the door. She pulled on it to close the door, then tied the vines to another vine sticking out of the wall that formed a loop. This, she guessed, was supposed to be like a lock.

"Hey, Aamira!" Quill yelled down. "Come check this out!" 

Aamira climbed up the ladder as fast as she could. When she pulled herself up onto the floor, her jaw dropped at the sight of the Treehouse. "This is amazing! Pokemon sure can do amazing things! I think I could get used to this!" 

In front of them was a large window with shutters made from bark that had a vine lock like the door. In front of the window was a mailbox. Over on the left of the window was a blank bulletin board. On the right was another ladder that led upstairs. In the middle of the room was a rug with a table on it. There were two chairs and a bowl of fruit on the table.

"It's a little plain." Quill said. "We'll have to find some more stuff to put in here some time. Maybe a desk or something… but look at the view!" 

From the window they could see a mountain range in the distance. The moon was just below the peak now. The sun would be up in a few hours. Aamira looked down and suddenly realized how high up they were. 

"You get used to it after a while." Quill said, sensing her unease. "I wasn't born here, but I've learned to live in the trees without much problem. Let's check upstairs."

This time Aamira went first. The ladder led to a hall with two doors. The one on the far end had her name on the door (misspelled Amera) and the one next to the ladder had Quill's name on it. 

"Well we'll have to do something about that sign." Aamira said referring to the sign on her door. 

"That really agitates you, huh?" Quill noticed Aamira suddenly getting a little annoyed.  
>"Sorry, it's just that I've never actually been able to feel what another pokemon does. It's kind of neat, so I'm just trying to get used to it is all." <p>

"Alright, but my name is one of the only things I can remember, so yea it is a little agitating." 

"Well let's check out our rooms." 

In quill's room there was a metal floor near the center with a cavity filled with hot coals in the center for a bed. There was a window like the one in his old room along with his desk. It was a lot bigger though, which he wasn't complaining about. They even added in a comfy looking chair and a bookshelf filled with books and manuals. 

Aamira also got a chair and a bookshelf, thought the books didn't look as complicated as Quill's and her chair was more like a pillow couch of some sort. Near the window was a hammock for a bed. There wasn't as much to her room as Quill's but it still looked about the same size. 

"Look's like we'll have to get you some more furniture too." Quill yawned. "Wow, it's been such a long day and I was so excited that I didn't even realize how tired I was…"  
>Aamira yawned too. "Yea, same here. And don't make any jokes about how I was asleep all day!" <p>

"We should try to get a little sleep. If I wake up first I'll wake you up and if you wake up first wake me up." 

"Okay…" Aamira yawned again and stretched her arms. Quill left and headed towards his room.

As tired as Aamira was, she couldn't force herself to sleep. After a while she got up and looked at the books in the bookshelf. She ran her finger over the spine of one.

'Floatzel, having more adept floatation devices than their pre-evolved form, Buizel, make great water rescuers and are especially capable when trying to enter water dungeons and save drowning pokemon.' Aamira lifted her hand of the spine. "It happened again… This is so weird…" she looked towards her door. "Unless he's asleep, Quill could probably tell how surprised I was by that… It's a bit annoying, but I guess I'll just have to live with it until I get my memory back." 

Aamira took her scarf off, sat down on the couch and looked at the symbol. 'I wonder if this means anything…' She folded it and put it beside her and laid back to try to relax. 'I guess I have more important things to worry about right now. I wake up next to a lake with healing powers apparently attacked by something and can't remember who I am. On top of that somehow I've turned into a pokemon… Such strange things are supposed to be happening… Maybe becoming an Investigation Team member would be a good thing. And maybe Quill and I can be friends and not just team members… It would be nice to have someone to get through this with, although I guess he doesn't really have much of a choice since he can tell what I feel. I'm sure we'll be great friends.' Aamira smiled to herself and went to lay in her hammock. Watching the stars outside, she slowly fell into a peaceful sleep, unknowing of what lies ahead.


	2. Chapter 2 New Teams on the Scene

Aamira must have only had a couple hours of sleep. Of course, there was nothing she could really do about that.

"Get up! Get up, we'll be late!" Quill came running into the room and shook the hammock she was sleeping in.

"Five more minutes…" She rolled over on her side.

"Come on! We'll miss the inauguration! Remember? Team Sleuth? We're going tot be in an Investigation Team!" Even as they were running late Quill couldn't hide his excitement.

Aamira opened her eyes slightly and yawned. She rolled over towards Quill and fell face first out of the hammock and onto the floor. Aamira just stayed there for a minute, then got up on all four and stretched and yawned before standing up and rubbing her eyes.

"Aren't Riolu supposed to be disciplined fighting pokemon that actually like getting up early? Hard to believe that the greatest Investigator ever is your evolved form."

"Yea, well apparently since I just turned into Riolu, I have as much discipline as a Riolu hatchling. Now what were you saying about an inauguration?" Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! The inauguration!" Aamira ran out of her room and down the two ladders to the base of the tree their HQ was built in. "Hurry up! I'm following you!"

"HEY!"

"Ah!" Aamira yelped. An Aipom and Mankey just jumped from the trees and were hanging by their tails in front of her.

"Who're you?" Aipom asked.

"A-Aamira." She tired to laugh to get rid of her nervousness. "And I'm guessing you're Quill friends, Team Sky."

"Mankey dropped from the tree she was hanging on. "Well not yet, but how do YOU know Quill!"

Aamira jumped. "Oh, we just sorta met yesterday… it was just lucky I guess… He was down by that Shroud Lake and saved me, so now we're going to become Investigation Team members."

"What!" They both yelled.

Aipom even fell to the ground. When she lifted her head her ears sort of drooped over her face a little. "That hurt… Haven't done that in a while." She got up and pointed an accusing finger at Aamira. "But why are you going to be in an Investigation Team! You've never even been at the Academy! And even though I'm happy for Quill, this isn't fair! He didn't even give a presentation yesterday!"

"Well, it was just the current circumstances, I suppose. He saved me and proved he had what it takes. And I didn't really have much of a choice since I…"

"AH!" Quill ran out of the tree's trunk. "We're not supposed to talk about that, remember!"

"Oh yea… It's weird that the only thing I really have to talk about I'm not allowed to talk about. This is so weird! It's hard not to!"

"Well come on!" Quill said. "We'll all be late! Let's go together."

"That's fine by me but… Are you sure we can trust her?" Aipom asked Quill.

"Well I wasn't a few hours ago, but I would be able to tell if she was a bad pokemon. I think we're allowed to talk about that, but it's hard to explain…" Quill said. "Wow, this just gets more and more confusing!"

"Well tell us anyway! You may be sure about this but we're not."

So on the way to the stage that was being built in the town's square, Quill explained how he had found Aamira by Shroud Lake. He told them how she was badly hurt and Aipom was even impressed he remembered the red berry juice. He told them that she had lost her memory except for her name, and made sure he didn't tell them that Aamira was once human. He even told them how she somehow knew the nickname Chansey used to have.

"And for some reason." He finished. "I can feel what she's feeling. It's a Riolu's ability to broadcast their feelings, but she wasn't doing it on purpose and Riolu that can't control that ability can normally be felt by everyone."

"So that's how you know she's not a bad pokemon?" Aipom asked. "Well how do you know she's not tricking you?"

Quill turned to Aamira. "Why are you so agitated? You were fine a second ago…"

"It's about time you noticed. You could feel it, but you were ignoring me!" Aamira said.

"Well you could've said something. Just because I can feel what you do doesn't mean you don't have to talk. Communication is important."

Aamira sighed. "I'm not a hostage, a prisoner, or a pet. I'm just a pokemon living in Vine City like the rest of you. The only reason I have to stay is because I don't know where else to go. Now I know you might think it's cool that you know how I feel, but I don't like it. Sometimes I think you can even read my mind. It makes me nervous and I don't know how to feel about it really, but it feels like you think of me as some sort of lost pet that you rescued."

"What?" Quill said. "Of course not! We're both members of Team Sleuth. Or at least we will be in a few minutes, then I promise I'll help solve your own mystery of who you used to be."

Aamira looked at him for a while and sighed. "Okay, but don't try showing me off or anything. If I want someone to know about what happened then I'll tell them. Everything."

Quill could tell that she was serious. "Wait, but Noctowl said we couldn't…"

"I'll only tell them that much if I think it's best or if we have no other choice in the matter. Strange things have been happening, you know that more than me. I'm not just going to go shouting something like that all over the forest."

"Alright…" Quill was unsure of what to say since Aamira seemed to be so easily offended. He felt ashamed that he had been causing Aamira to feel like that and that he didn't even notice.

Aipom laughed. "She's like the older sister you never had! Aww! I wanted that job! Well as long as she keeps you from getting a big head after you become a real Investigation Team."

Quill blushed, embarrassed. "A big head? Me? No, no! That would never happen, you know that! Older sister…?"

Aamira laughed. "It does kind of seem like that, I guess! I already had to promise Espeon that I'd watch out for him!"

"Oh, come on! Y-you didn't really mean that though, did you? I mean, Espeon is a little protective of all her graduates. Always has been…" Quill said.

"Well then I guess I have to have meant it now!"

Manky laughed at Quill's expression. "Anyone that keeps Quill in line in a friend of ours! You're all right! If you ever need any help, either of you, than just give Team Sky a call!"

"Team Sky!" A high pitched voice from behind them said. "How pathetic! Maybe if you were flying types…"

Quill turned. "Oh, it's you two… Team Rapids…" Quill walked up to them bravely. "What do you two want?"

"We were just going to the inauguration is all." Crawdaunt said. "Come to watch us become Investigation Team members? I suspected you'd be crying under your bed after what happened yesterday!"

"For your information…" Aamira said, not really knowing what she was getting herself into. "We're going to form our own Investigation Team!"

Croconaw and Crawdaunt laughed.

"You know you have to pass the academy to become an Investigation Team, right newcomer? You've never even been there! You don't know anything, so stay out of this!" Croconaw punched Aamira and knocked her to the ground. "HA! Yea, a real Investigation Team leader, that one!" Both walked off towards town square.

"I hate them!" Aipom said. "They discouraged pretty much everyone making them not want to become Investigation Teams anymore, shot water attacks at a disadvantaged Cyndaquil, who now just had his partner attacked, convinced all the teachers they were perfect little angels and sucked up to them to get second place behind the two of us!"

Mankey started thrashing around. "I HATE THAT TEAM RAPIDS! They made me take anger management one evolutionary form sooner than normal! And that Crawdaunt! Oh yea, Aamira isn't a leader, so I suppose she is! Can't be Croconaw, he's just her little follower that does all the hard work! She takes advantage of EVERYONE!"

"Settle down, now." Aipom said. "We'll show them at the entrance exam!"

"Wait a minute!" Quill said. "What do you mean 'entrance exam'! You mean there's still more we have to do!"

"Oh, you didn't know!" Aipom said. "Yea, every team goes through a dungeon to take the exam before they take their oaths! It's supposed to be like a triathlon, I think. Of course, the actual challenges are never announced. They're left for the Investigation Team members to figure out. There are only three floors to the dungeon, but the different challenges on each are demanding for unofficial teams. I think we have to find items or something…"

"We'll worry about that when we get there, we might be late if we hang around here much longer." Aamira said.

The crowd was large. Everyone that had graduated from the Academy was there along with the rest of Vine City. Aamira and Quill stood in the back row with Aipom and Mankey.

Noctowl was addressing the town. "I know many of you have been concerned about the things that have been happening, but I assure you that now today with the new Investigation Team candidates, Vine City will be a safer place than ever. If an Investigation Team fails to complete the entrance exam, their Investigation HQ will stay the same. They will become in charge of keeping the peace in town, but not be registered to take on official jobs until they retake the entrance exam the next year and pass."

Quill's heart was beating faster than ever. They at least got a weeks notice before the recital, and he blew that. This time he was going in completely blind. What if he couldn't do this?

"Now, before I announce the candidates, I'll explain the exam. In a few minutes all the teams will enter the Forest Path to the left of town hall. It's a short dungeon with only three floors and a sublevel. Only by finding the way out of the sublevel will teams be able to come out of the Forest Path exit to the right of town hall and cross the finish line. Any team that fails to cross the finish line in the ten minute time limit without completing all of the challenges will fail the exam and have to wait until next year to take it all over again. Now! For the moment you've all been waiting for, it's time to announce the Investigation Team candidates!"

The crowd cheered as Espeon handed him three pieces off paper. What could they have been though? Noctowl knew who the teams were so that couldn't be what they were for.

"Now then." Noctowl said. "In first place, with a test score of 3,245, Aipom and Mankey of the future Team Sky!"

Everyone cheered as Aipom and Mankey screeched and ran up to meet Noctowl. Of course they had already known, but that didn't mean they weren't excited.

"Next, with a test score of 2,985, Crawdaunt and Croconaw of the future Team Rapids!"

Everyone cheered, but not as loud as they had for Aipom and Mankey.

"Well what do you expect?" Crawdaunt raised one of her claws to the crowd as she led the way up to where Noctowl was standing with Croconaw close behind. Croconaw pointed out Aamira and Quill and both of them smiled evilly. Croconaw mouthed, "better luck next time" to the two of them.

"Now then." Noctowl continued. "Although normally we only nominate two Investigation Teams a year, because of recent circumstances, we have two more entrants. In third place, with a test score of zero, Quill and Aamira of the future Team Sleuth.

The crowd remained silent. As they made their way up to where Noctowl in the others were, a few people even cast them some hateful glances. Aamira was able to catch the things they said like, "She's not even from around here." "She didn't even go to the academy." "Didn't he run out before even giving his recital?" "With a score of zero?" or even, "I should've been a candidate! No one get's a score of zero!"

Noctowl continued when Quill and Aamira took their places with the other two teams. "I would like all of you to show a little respect for these two. Although neither of them did a recital, they proved that tests don't prove as much as real life and that actions speak louder than words."

Everyone in the crowd clapped feebly. Aamira felt her face get hot all of a sudden. The first day and already everyone hated them.

Noctowl gave the papers to one person in each team. "These are clues to help you on your tests. If you look at them you'll notice they only have one clue. Or so it seems. The first challenge you'll find a way to see the unseen. After you do that, you will be shown the way to the other two challenges. In the last room of the dungeon, you must combine all three things you've learned to find the exit. Now, on my signal, the three teams will race towards the dungeon's entrance. You'll have ten minutes to find your way out to the finish line."

Everyone turned towards the dungeons entrance. Aipom and Mankey were jumping around, barely able to control themselves. Quill was surprisingly calm, but that was only because Aamira still didn't know much about any of this so she couldn't be nervous, so he didn't feel nervous either.

"Alright!" Noctowl raised his wing. "Ready… set… GO!" he waved his wing like a flag and the three teams raced off. "And that's where it stands. First team to enter the dungeon is Team Rapids, followed by Team Sky, and in last Team Sleuth!"

"They already have a huge head start on us!" Aamira said when they got in the dungeon. "Of course you're at a size disadvantage and this is the first time I even remember running!"

"Why so serious all of a sudden?" Quill asked.

Aamira clenched her hand into a fist. "I want revenge on that Team Rapids for what they did earlier!"

Quill started reading the clue on the paper. "I come in the night without being found, I leave in the day without being stolen. Looks through the item I guard so secretly, and you may just find the way."

"Arrive at night and leave in the day…? Stars?"

"Yea, that's it, but how would the stars guard an item?" Quill asked.

"I don't know…" Aamira admitted. "Maybe near the stars or something…? Like in the sky?"

The two of them looked above at the trees.

"How would we get into the sky? And even if they were just in a tree they wouldn't make something like this impossible for a Crawdaunt to do."

"Stars… Stars…" Aamira was pacing now. "Maybe we got it wrong? We've got to hurry too…"

"Nah, we got ten minutes and the first thing most teams would do is rush into the center of the floor and then read the clue only to realize they passed it up…"

"Yea, you're probably right… Maybe it's a star pokemon? Or something shaped like a star?"

"Okay, let's try to look for something shaped like stars."

A few times they encountered enemy pokemon. One of them was a Tangela that tried grabbing Quill. He flared up the fire on his back and it went running. As hard as they looked, they couldn't find anything that looked like stars or anything in the trees.

"Okay, we really need to speed this up!" Quill said. "Any ideas at all?"

"You know I don't have any ideas." Aamira said.

"I know, but I'm getting desperate!"

"Wait, remember what Noctowl said? He said there was a way to see the unseen. If you can't see stars in the day it's because of the sun."

"You don't think we have to block the sun, do you? We can't wait until nightfall! I don't want us to be the first ones to lose this in years!"

"Yea, me neither… This is becoming more of a pride thing than just to win…"

"Well, being in the dark means not knowing anything. That's the best I can think of since there aren't any dark areas in this dungeon."

Aamira's eyes widened. "No, there's not. Doesn't that seem strange?" She walked up to a tree. "With the sun at the spot it is now, this tree's shadow should be darker, but it's not. And look! It blends in so well we didn't even notice. The bark right here is sort of shaped like a star."

"Hey, you're right. It looks sort of like the doors on the buildings. Why didn't we think of that before?"

Aamira raised her hand to the star mark. Her hand passed right through it causing both of them to jump from her surprise. "There's something in here." Aamira pulled out part of a handle and readjusted its position because it wouldn't come out the other way due to something bulging on the end. It was a piece of glass. "A magnifying glass?"

"Oh! That's an Investigation Team item. It's called an Aura Glass. It can let you see through things, over long distances, and even footprints and fingerprints that wouldn't normally appear. It's also proof of being an Investigation Team. They're like badges and better than passports when traveling."

"That's pretty cool." Aamira looked through the Aura Glass. She saw a Spinarak's footprints on the tree and Team Sky's footprints on the branches. "Looks like Team Sky went right past here. I don't think they got an Aura Glass though. This is so cool."

"Well let me see! I've always wanted to look through one of those!" Aamira handed him the Aura glass. "Woa, it doesn't even look like I'm looking at the same world. Oh, I think I see the exit! It's hidden in a tree too!"

Aamira followed Quill to a tree a few hundred feet away. Still looking through the aura glass, he pushed on part of the tree and a door opened revealing a staircase leading down into a lower level of the dungeon.

"Oh, let's read the next clue before we keep going. Obviously it's on the same paper and we can see it with the Aura Glass."

Quill held the Aura Glass up to his eye and looked at the paper. "It's not a clue, it just tells us what to do. Find the Collection Bags and proceed to the next floor. You're thinking it's too easy, right?"

Aamira flinched.

"Oh, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was reading your mind or anything, but it's a little obvious in this situation when you get worried like that."

"Yea, I get it… It's still a little weird, but since you've been feeling my emotions ever since I woke up, I guess I have to get used to it as much as you do."

"Either way, let's worry about what might happen later. We'll never get through the dungeon in time if we hesitate too much…" Quill led the way up the stairs.

"Oh yea, and that's the way Team Sky rolls! Woho!" It was Aipom. She had a scratch on her cheek and Mankey was panting.

"Okay, okay! You already beat us, save the gloating!" Crawdaunt was laying on the ground unable to move.

Aamira groaned. "No fair! You got to them first! Aww! I wanted to do that!"

"Oh yea, and like you two are the favorite team to win…" Croconaw was in an equally bad state.

"Oh, hey, these are yours." Aipom used her tail to throw two bags to Aamira and Quill. There was only one strap and only a small loop on the end, not big enough for someone to get around their head.

"We don't have to carry these, do we? Can't we put them around our necks or something?" Quill asked.

"Put part of the strap through the loop at the end to make a bigger loop. Then I'd suggest putting it around your head and one of your arms so no one jumps out of the water and tries strangling you."

"BIG mistake on your part of course!" Mankey yelled at Team Rapids.

"Anyway," Aipom said. "We've already beaten you in test scores, so we're going to win this too! Sorry we couldn't stick around but…" Both Aipom and Mankey ran off.

"Did they… really just do that…?" Aamira asked.

"Yea, they've always sort of been like that, but they've always looked out for me too. Especially Aipom. She was there for me when no one else was." Quill said.

"Well, they're still our rivals now, aren't they?" Aamira asked. "Either way, we could still try to win… After I get to kick those two around… Where's Team Rapids?"

Quill looked around. "Must've run… those chickens… Oh, lucky us, look what I've found!" Quill picked up a few blue berries that were on the ground. "These are Oran Berries. Really useful if we get too tired. They'll give us a little boost. And now that we have the Collection Bags, we can put them and any other items we find in here."

"There's the stairs." Aamira pointed to a staircase a little farther ahead at a staircase leading down to the bottom third floor. Then after that was the sublevel where they would have to look for the exit and race to the finish line. "It's still too easy…"

"Well we won't know what it is until we keep moving…" The water next to Quill suddenly shot up and Crawdaunt and Croconaw attacked.

"Look out!" Aamira charged at Team Rapids and started glowing. She hit both of them and they got knocked back down. "What a cheap shot, but wow! That felt good! Finally some revenge!"

"That was quick attack…" Quill said. "You… you saved me…"

"Well I uh… I wouldn't say I SAVED you, but…"

"Yes you did! They're like that. They never liked settling for just plain bullying, they would've put my flame out for good if they got the chance…"

"Well then, I guess that makes us even, right?"

"Oh yea… I guess it does, but still!"

"Okay, after that, I'm up for easy. How about we get out of here?" Aamira led the way to the stairs and the two of them proceeded to the third floor.  
>It was different from the other two. This one was covered in bamboo trees instead of regular ones. Everything seemed quiet, but there weren't any ways to go to keep going.<p>

"Stop!" Aipom yelled. "It's a trap!"

"What?" Too late. As soon as Aamira stepped of the last stair, the door above them closed and they were trapped in that floor of a dungeon. A Pokemon with a flower around its long neck suddenly jumped out from behind the bamboo.

"A Meganium?" Quill said. "There aren't many of those around here, but I've still got a type advantage!" Quill tried igniting the flames on his back, but it wouldn't work for some reason.

"Our attacks are all sealed in here, but the Meganium can still use its attacks!" Aipom shouted.

"What?" Both of them started retreating towards the wall."

"Don't let it back you up into a corner!" Mankey shouted. "That's how it got us!"

Aamira, being a fighting type, instinctively tried to grab one of the pieces of bamboo, but her hand found a rod of some sort that didn't feel like bamboo and was covered in vines. She pulled it right out of the ground. On one end of the rod was a spear head, and on the other was a hook made of vines that was surprisingly sturdy.

"There are spears mixed in with the bamboo! That's the last item! This one's too big for me. I'm guessing it was made for Crawdaunt."

"Let's find ours then!" Quill said.

It didn't take long, but it was hard while they were trying to avoid the Meganium's attacks. Aamira got hit once by a Vine Whip attack and had to use an Oran Berry. The next time Meganium tried to attack her, she had found her staff and grabbed the end of the vine with the hook on one of the ends. She pulled Meganium towards her and hit Meganium in the side of the neck, causing it to loose its balance for a second.

Meganium ran at Aamira with its neck outstretched. Quill attacked it from the side when he found his staff. Meganium fell on its side and tried to lift it's head, but then fainted.

"We… we did it…" Quill's heart was beating really fast, but other than that he was fine, and the same went for Aamira.

Quill gave Aipom and Mankey some of their Oran Berries, but they were still too badly hurt to walk. After finding Team Sky's staffs, Aamira tried carrying them. It wasn't easy but not impossible either. They moved towards the stairs that led into the sublevel that had opened after they defeated Meganium.

"I can't believe we won…" Quill said.

"Well what would you expect?" Aipom asked. "Even if it was a Meganium, they would never make the entrance exams impossible for newly graduates to beat.

"We owe you two big time…" Mankey said.

"Well if you two ever get into trouble again, you can always give Team Sleuth a call."

Both Aipom and Mankey laughed at having their own words used against them like that.

Aipom pulled a stopwatch out of her bag. "I don't believe this… We'll never make it on time… We have less than two minutes…"

The door to the stairs closed behind them and a bunch of pokemon a lot weaker than the Meganium appeared. They defeated all of them with a little less trouble.

"We'll never make it on time…" Quill said discouraged. "Those fights delayed us too much.

"Less than a minute…" Aipom said.

"We can't just give up like this!" Aamira's shoulders hurt from carrying Mankey on her back and swinging her staff around, but she still didn't want to give up. If only there was some way! Suddenly her legs gave out and she fell with Mankey on top of her. Quill became even more discouraged, sat Aipom down, and laid on his stomach.

Aamira clenched her teeth and punched the ground. 'Three feet ahead, a foot and six inches down. Cut the rope and the tunnel will open.'

"What's wrong?" Quill said, feeling her surprise in it happening again.

Aamira got up and walked three feet ahead of her and started digging. "It's down here!"

Quill came over to help her. "Well if you're sure, then I'm helping too! I'm not giving up that easily!"

"Us too!" Aipom and Mankey dragged themselves over and started digging while laying down. After a while Aamira grabbed a rope. Quill picked up his staff and cut it with the spear end. In front of them a slab of stone rose up and a hidden tunnel was revealed.

"We've got less than a minute!" Aipom shouted as Quill lifted her onto his back.

"We can still make it!" He said.

Aipom smiled. 'Little Quill… I remember the day you showed up here carrying your little brother on your back… He was sick and Chansey couldn't do anything about it. Ever since your brother left us you've given up so easily, and now…' Aipom glanced over at Aamira who was lifting Mankey onto her back. 'She really is like an older sister… loosing a younger brother took your confidence, and gaining an older sister gave it back… I'm so happy for you…'

"Well let's go." Quill said. "You okay, Aipom?"

"Huh? Yea, fine. Let's hurry or none of us will make it in time!"

Back at the finish line, the whole town was gathered. Noctowl was looking at his watch and counting down the seconds in his head. 'No one… and no one's failed to pass in years… Did something happen?'

Suddenly from in his mother pouch, the newly hatched baby Kangaskhan shouted, "They're coming!" The rest of the crowd started cheering as they came further into view.

And what a strange sight they were. A little Riolu running with a Mankey on her back and a Cyndaquil with an Aipom on his. Even weirder was that it was the lowest scoring team helping the highest. Noctowl chuckled a little. Never before had something like this happened. Seven seconds left. Noctowl noticed that Aamira was running with her head out in front of her and her arms back. She was starting to look a lot more like a Riolu. Even with his weaker sense of balance, and shorter legs, Quill was still able to keep up with her at every step. 'He's grown up…' he thought.

Three seconds left and they were almost there. Two seconds and they crossed the finish line. Aamira and Quill let Aipom and Mankey off their back when Chansey ran up to them. Both of them sat on the ground panting harder than they had all day. They looked over at each other, smiled, and burst into laughter. Not only had they gotten through with only two seconds to spare, but they had also become best friends along the way. Three minutes later Team Rapids came running across the finish line.

"What do you MEAN we're three minutes late!" Crawdaunt yelled at Noctowl. "You old geezer! You really think these legs of mine could've made it in time!"

"Oh, stop complaining!" Quill said. "You've got more legs than me, they're longer, and I was carrying Aipom for the last two floors!"

"You little brat! You think that would've really even mattered if you hadn't attacked us!"

There was a bit of murmuring in the crowd.

"That's not true!" Aipom said. "Quill isn't the kind of pokemon who would try that! You tried strangling me with my Collection Bag!"

"Then you ran off and jumped out of the water and attacked us!" Aamira said. "You attacked both of us and we attacked in defense! You deserved to come in last over the time limit!"

"You would attack another Investigation Team?" Noctowl walked towards the two of them. "You two know the rules. Attacking another team is punishable by being sent back to the academy!"

"No! Why! Teams fight all the time!" Croconaw said.

"But none of those battles ever interfered with someone becoming an Investigation Team member!" Noctowl raised his wings. He looked more threatening than most people there had ever seen him.

"Who needs this anyway!" Crawdaunt shouted. "Come on, Croconaw! We're leaving!"

"Those items are exclusive only to Investigation Teams!" Alakazam shouted after them.

"Who cares?" Croconaw and Crawdaunt both ran off faster than they had when running for the finish line.

"Thieves!" Alakazam started to run after them, but Noctowl raised a wing to stop them. "No matter how the water flows, it will always be frozen by winter. They will cause no serious harm. Let them go for now; they've become an embarrassment to Investigation Teams everywhere. There's little they can do once outside the forest." Noctowl turned to Aamira and Quill. "Let us forget this whole incident and instead celebrate you two coming in first, we all see it fit seeing as how you saved Team Sky, and the inauguration of two new Investigation Teams!"

The crowd cheered, their anger towards the exception that had been made for Quill and Aamira forgotten. After their checkup with Chansey, Team Sky came over and Team Sleuth stood up. Now all that was left was the inauguration. Both teams stood a little away from each other so that everyone could clearly see that it was two teams who had passed, like it should have been originally anyway.

"Now, if you believe you're ready, say so and we'll begin." Alakazam said.

"We're ready!" All four of them said at the same time.

Noctowl stepped forward. "Then repeat after me. I as an Investigation Team member,"

"I as an Investigation Team member,"

"Here by promise to work hard, defend the weak, and complete every task no matter how demanding."

"Here by promise to work hard, defend the weak, and complete every task no matter how demanding."

"Now," said Noctowl. "I would like each of you to state a reason why you want to become an Investigation Team member."

Quill went first. "To help people in need so that no one has to go through what I did."

Aamira went next. "To solve my own mystery of who I am."

After that was Mankey. "To create a new world of peace that will be the only world younger pokemon will ever know." A few of the people in the crowed smiled.

Finally was Aipom. After Mankey, everyone was eager to here what she had to say. "To pay back an old friend of mine… for something he did a long time ago…" there was something in her voice that seemed grave, but only Aamira, Quill, and Mankey seemed to notice.

"Then, as the town elder, I, Noctowl, hereby certify both Team Sleuth and Team Sky as official Investigation teams!"

The crowd cheered. Both members of Team Sky were smiling and laughing, Quill looked like he was about to faint from happiness, and Aamira was so happy for some reason that she started shouting and punching at the air. Even Noctowl smiled and laughed along with them.

Then he raised his wings and the crowd went silent. "Yes, well done Team Sleuth and Team Sky! Now as official Investigation Teams, all of you will be expected to gather here in front of town hall every day first thing in the morning unless under special circumstances. Here you will receive your duties for the day, and here townspeople should come fore emergency cases if ever need be. Now, it may feel later than it really is, but it's only noon! The two of you will have the remainder of the day off to do whatever you like, but go to bed early. Tomorrow, the real work begins!"


	3. Chapter 3 Ransom

Aamira woke up in her hammock when the sun started shining through the window. She fell asleep only a few hours after she and Quill had become an official Investigation Team. She must've slept for about fifteen hours. Aamira pushed against the wall a few inches away from the hammock and started swinging around in it for a moment to wake herself up. Then she jumped out like a Riolu normally would and went to wake Quill up.

"Quill! Time to get up. Noctowl said first thing in the morning!" She knocked on his door with the bone on the back of her hand, which made it a little louder, but still Quill didn't come out. "Quill?" She opened the door and looked towards his coal bed. It looked like the coals hadn't been heated up in a while and Quill was nowhere to be seen. 

Aamira went downstairs and looked around. Left of the giant window that was in the room was an empty bulletin board, but if her hunch was right, it wouldn't stay empty much longer. She looked over towards the ladder that led to the exit and saw Quill asleep next to it. 

She quietly walked up to him until she was les than three inches away and yelled at him. "QUILL!" 

"Huh! What!" Quill jumped up as suddenly as if someone had just knocked the tree down. "Oh, I guess this is payback for yesterday, huh?" 

"More than that, we have to go!" 

"Huh…? Oh, yea! We're an Investigation Team now! I completely forgot! And I even woke up early out of excitement and came down here to wait." Quill grabbed his Collection Bag, his staff, and the Aura Glass. Aamira did the same and they both ran out of their Treehouse. 

Surprisingly when they got to town hall, pokemon were still starting to gather. It looked like there might have been at least four or five other Investigation Teams. Most of them looked really strong, and some of them looked really bored from doing this for so long. 

"I don't believe it!" Quill pointed over to a Sceptile and a Venusaur who were both talking to Team Sky. "It's Team Overgrow! They're famous! I heard there hasn't been a mystery yet that they haven't been able to solve!" 

"They're really good at their jobs then, huh? Probably really experienced too." Aamira said.

"Every Investigation Team is offered at one point or another to go and do investigations somewhere else in the world. They've been asked over ten times and turned down the people that asked them every time. 'Our place is here in the forest. We live to keep the peace.' That's what they always say." 

"So would you ever want to leave Vine City?" Aamira asked. 

"Yea, I guess so. I've always wanted to solve my own mystery of where I came from. I came here to Vine City one day with my little brother who was really sick, and Chansey couldn't save him… I was sorta in shock a little, so now I can't remember much about where I used to live before then. But of course, I was so young I probably wouldn't have been able to remember anything either way."

"Oh, I never heard about your brother…" 

"Yea, it's sad sometimes, but like I said I was really young then, so it's not like I'm really able to miss him much. I'm just sad I wasn't able to save him. I don't like diseases like the one he had, so I always wanted to form an Investigation Team after that to try to find cures for incurable diseases and do other things like that…" 

"What about Phione Dew or Gabite Scales?" A pokemon from behind them said. "Those are supposed to be cure-alls, though both are extremely rare…" It was a Slakoth. 

"Man, WHO CARES?" a Vigoroth said. "Oh, boohoo! Just let the little weaklings go, I say!" 

"What!" The flames on Quill's back suddenly burst to life. 

"Yea, you heard me! If something happened to your brother, it was probably for the best! It's in the past and nothing can ever change it, so why bother changing your whole life for it!" 

"My brother, please stop." A Slacking walked up behind Vigoroth. "Would you feel the same way if that ever happened to little brother Slakoth?" 

Vigoroth seemed to actually think about it for a minute. 

"VIGOROTH!" Slaking shouted. 

"Who are these three?" Aamira asked. 

"Oh, that's just Slakoth, Vigoroth, and Slaking of Team Slacker." Quill said. "They're like the opposite of Team Overgrow. They fail nearly every mission because of the middle brother." 

"Yes, Vigoroth can go a little overboard sometimes… The first mission we completed Vigoroth actually threatened our client… We didn't get the reward…" Slakoth said. 

"We get rewards for doing missions?" Most of the Investigation Teams within earshot of Aamira laughed. 

Aipom was one of the few who didn't. "Hey, give her a break! Aamira's new here and hardly knows anything at all about Investigation Teams!" She wagged her tail back and fourth angrily and most of them started to settle down. 

After a while Noctowl came out of Town Hall and, much to everyone's annoyance seeing as how they had to go thought the same thing every year, Noctowl started explaining the most important rules that Investigation Teams had to follow. 

"You must not, under any circumstances, fight with another Investigation Team from a foreign land. Ties with other countries are extremely important at this point. Under no circumstances whatsoever, are you to use the spear ends of your staffs on another pokemon. Now, for the most important rule of all, never trust anyone in a dungeon unless they are your client." 

"Is it just me, or does Noctowl sound really worried about things happening outside the forest?" Aamira asked. 

"And with good reason too…" Quill said. 

"Now, for the most important part; item management. We don't have these various shops set up in town to make the city bigger, so if you have the money, please buy and store any items you find might be useful." Noctowl pulled out an Aura Glass. "These Aura Glasses are the most important things for your team. The metal supporting the glass tells what rank you are. Right now for the new teams, it's not metal at all, but wood, because you are currently normal rank. After reaching gold rank, you might be offered to leave and go to other cities, and in this case, I beg you to be careful." 

Next Noctowl pulled out a staff. "The true name, by the way, of these staffs is the Aura Staff, although most people find it easier just to call it a staff. If our two new teams haven't realized yet…" Noctowl pressed on a segment of the staff and it contracted. "They fold up with just the press of a button for easier transportation. Like I said, in the circumstances where you run out of energy to use any moves you can use the staff for just a basic attack, but you can't use the spear. The spear can be used in many different ways and have come in handy to hundreds of Investigation Teams before, so I'll leave it up to you to figure that part out. The hook can also be useful in many ways. I understand that yesterday one of our new recruits caught a Meganium's Vine Whip when they were being attacked. Again, I'll leave you all to figuring these things out for yourselves…" 

"Noctowl!" A Vileplume ran up and ended up falling on the huge flower on her head. She got up and ran in front of Noctowl. "Please, I don't know what happened! I turned my back for a second and my son was just gone! And I found this!" She handed a note to Noctowl and backed away a little 

Noctowl read over the note for a moment. "Looks like we've got our first mission for Team Sleuth." 

Vileplume watched as they walked up to Noctowl. "They're an Investigation team? But they're so young! Couldn't you send someone more capable like Team Overgrow?" 

"Oh, I'm sorry but we leave today on an important investigation in the north." Sceptile explained. 

"Eh, we had to get unlucky with blizzard country at some point or another." Venusaur said, since both of them were grass types. 

Vileplume looked around desperately before turning back to Noctowl. "Please! Just send anyone except a rookie team! If he found out we've sent investigators after him, he might…" she suddenly burst into tears. 

"Don't worry!" Quill assured her. "We'll find your son, no problem!" 

"Maybe, but have you ever dealt with an outlaw?" her voice sounded harsh, but she was probably still scared. 

"An outlaw? Wait, is that a ransom note? Oh this is so…" 

"Quill!" Aamira said. "This is no time to be thinking of how cool it is that you're actually getting a chance to rescue a hostage!" 

"They're no more than kids themselves! How could they ever rescue my little Oddish from an outlaw?" Vileplume's crying increased. 

"I see your point." Noctowl said. "We can't just rely on the luck these two seem to have. To not attract any unwanted attention, I suggest sending just one other team. Why not Team Slacker?" 

Vileplume looked at the wild Vigoroth and giant Slacking. "I suppose that is a little better…" 

Noctowl got that distant stare like he usually did when he was about to say something wise. "Just remember that all that glitters is not gold… Team Slacker might even add to Team Sleuth's challenge. 

Aamira, Quill, and Vileplume all looked a little nervous. 

"And if you should fail to bring down the outlaw then we would have no other choice." Noctowl handed Quill a little brown bag. "In there is 300 poke, the amount the outlaw asked for the ransom. Under no circumstances are you to give him that money without a fight or leave the dungeon without Oddish." 

"We understand, sir!" Quill put the ransom money into his Collection bag. "And don't worry, we'll get Oddish back with no problem." 

"Oh… the outlaw's… Charmeleon…" Vileplume sounded nervous just mentioning the name. 

"Charmeleon?" Quill said. "Why would an outlaw like him be after something as small as a 300 poke ransom? He's one of the most feared of all outlaws!" 

"I think I know!" Slakoth said. "It's a trap. Using a little kid and a lower ransom as bait, he's trying to lure an Investigation Team to him so he can ask for an extremely high ransom. Is that why you're sending us and not a higher rank rescue team?" 

"I thought it possible…" Noctowl said. "My eyes see what only most people could with an Aura Glass. I recognized Charmeleon's handprint, but I thought it possible for a combination of less experienced teams to be able to take him down. But if you're caught, we may have no choice but to pay the ransom he wants for the return of the two teams and Oddish. I don't think I need to say then that there isn't much room for failure." 

"This sounds pretty dangerous…" Aamira said. 

Vigoroth laughed at her. "You chicken! Investigation Teams live for danger! You won't last a few seconds!" 

"Don't be so worried." Quill said. "Although I don't really agree with what Vigoroth said, everything will turn out fine! Don't worry, Vileplume. Like I said, we'll get him back with no problem!"

"You better or I'll…" Vileplume started crying again. 

"So where is our mission anyway?" Slakoth asked. 

"It's in a dungeon called Stony Ridge." Noctowl said. "It's a dungeon with eight floors and is high above the ground. The only way to get to the top is to go through the dungeon that starts in a canyon. You should find Charmeleon at the top along with Oddish." 

"Right then!" Quill said. "We'll do the best we can." 

Quill and Aamira wanted to get a few items from the Keckleon Shop before leaving so they would know they were well prepared. Team Slacker wanted to leave as soon as possible, but since Team Sleuth was technically still in charge of the mission, they had to wait around for them. 

"Hiya!" Both the Keckleon sisters said. 

"I'm Willow…" The grassy green one said. 

"And I'm Daisy!" The pink one said. "We're always happy to help new customers, especially new investigators!" 

"Mostly because we're always happy!" Willow said. 

"Uhh…" Quill and Aamira looked at each other for a minute. 

"Oh, sorry." Willow said. "I guess we get a little too happy." 

"But we do have some nice starter items for you!" Daisy pulled a wooden box out from under the counter. "Let's see, we've got a Reviver Seed, a Max Elixir, and your choice of two scarves, one for each." 

"What do the scarves do?" Aamira asked. 

"It depends on their ability. A Joy Ribbon makes your level go up faster, a Defense Scarf makes your defense level go up, and a Power Band makes your attack go up." Quill explained.

"Seeing as how you're a Riolu," Willow said, "if I were you I would get the Power Band seeing as how a fighting type like you would be better off training your attack. And also since Riolu are known to be over-determined and would level up quickly, Quill should get the Joy Ribbon so he can keep up with you." 

"Keep up?" Aamira said. "He knows more about all of this than I do. I don't even get how Riolu are supposed to be so determined." 

"Well let's go ahead and try it." Quill said. "Either way we have to hurry and save Oddish." 

"Ohh, someone get lost in a dungeon?" Daisy asked. 

"No, he was kidnapped by Charmeleon." Aamira said. 

Both of the Keckleon sisters looked shocked. 

"Ch-Charmeleon!" Willow stammered. "That's one bad outlaw, I tell you. You kids are in over your heads!"

"I don't get it, is he really that bad?" 

"Worse than you know! He's always sneaking into here and stealing things from storage, our shop, and even the bank once. One time when he was cornered he even used a hostage to escape. There's no way of telling what he'll do to get out of being caught." 

Aamira and Quill gulped. 

"HURRY UP!" Vigoroth looked like he was about to go on a rampage, so Aamira and Quill thanked the Keckleon sisters for their items and went to join Team Slacker. 

A while later after walking on miles of rocky terrain, it seemed as if Quill was already tired, but Vigoroth constantly yelled at him to keep him going. After a while they climbed down into the canyon and found the cave-entrance to the dungeon. 

Quill looked up. "We have to go all the way up there?" 

"No, of course not!" Slakoth said. "WE have to go all the way up there." 

Slacking grabbed Aamira and Quill and wouldn't let go no matter how much they struggled. 

"What are you doing!" Aamira yelled. "Noctowl put us in charge of this mission!" 

"That's old guy's losing his touch." Vigoroth seemed calmer than usual. "And after we take care of you two we'll get all the credit for this mission!" 

"I really am sorry about this." Slakoth said. 

"No you're not! It was your idea!" 

"Oh yea, that's right!" Slakoth looked around and pointed at some boulders. "Tie them up and hide them back there where they won't be found so easily." 

"I can't believe they did that!" Aamira was still struggling, but Quill had given up a long time ago. 

They each had their feet and legs tied together, and Quill was even muzzled so he couldn't just burn through the ropes. Aamira couldn't stand to see Quill look so sad. 

"Don't worry, I'll get us out of here! Somehow…" 

Unable to talk, Quill shook his head. 

"How do you know it's impossible if we never even try?" 

Quill tried to say something, but his voice was muffles by the muzzle. He stomped on the ground five times. 

"Five…?" 

Quill looked around and saw a tree branch growing on the side of the canyon. 

"Five tree? Five… limb? Five limbs?" 

Quill nodded. 

"Five limbs?" Aamira looked at her arms and legs that were tied up, then remembered. "Oh duh, I'm a Riolu!" 

Quill laughed for a moment. 

"Yea, so I have a tail… Why didn't I think of that?" Aamira tried putting her tail into the rope knot on her arms to make it loosen. "Wow, this is hard… I had no idea I'd need to use my tail for something like this." 

Finally the rope became loose enough for her to slip her arms out and untie her feet, then untie Quill. 

Quill gasped as he took the rope muzzle off. "They could have at least made sure it wasn't covering my nose! I could barely breathe with that thing on me." 

"I didn't think we'd have this much trouble after Team Rapids left. Are a lot of teams like this?" 

"With most teams all that matters is money. I don't like it. Team Overgrow is one of the only exceptions. Too bad they left today for Glacies, the ice country." 

"Well I'm not going to let those three leave us here and get away with it!" 

"Aww!" Quill was looking through his bag. "They took the ransom money." 

"Then I guess we just can't lose. Now let's go." 

In the dungeon they were attacked repeatedly by tons of pokemon that seemed to think nothing like they did at all. It scared Aamira, who still wasn't used to being a Riolu, that somehow these dungeons were making all these pokemon lose their senses. Quill could tell and became more worried about all the pokemon here more than ever. 

On the first floors it was mainly Bonsly, Geodude, and Arron. Later on though, more pokemon started appearing like Graveler, Onyx, and Quill even thought he saw a Heatran, but Aamira pointed out that they only live in volcanoes and there obviously wasn't one anywhere near there. 

"I thought you didn't know anything about pokemon." Quill said. 

"Yea, it's weird, but I remembered a little about Heatran when you mentioned it. I wonder what other things I used to know. It doesn't really matter though, since even if I knew more than you I still don't know anything at this point." 

Feeling Aamira's sadness at thinking of her memory loss, Quill decided to change the subject to their mission. "How long is this dungeon? It feels like we've been walking forever." 

"It didn't help that we were delayed by Team Slacker… Maybe we could stop for a little lunch though?" 

"Oh hang on, I think I put a couple of apples in here before we left this morning." Quill handed her an apple and they both continued walking as they ate. After a while they found the exit. 

A red lizard-like pokemon was sitting in the clearing in front of four hostages that were all too badly injured to move. Three of them were Team Slacker. In spite of his obvious battle with Team Slacker, he seemed bored from waiting all that time. 

"It's about time!" Charmeleon got up and waved the flame on his tail wildly. "Now then, I expect you would have 5,000 poke on you?" 

"5,000!" Quill said. "You only asked for 300!" 

"Before these three interfered, so now I'm adding onto that. 2,000 for the big guy, 1,500 for the wild one, 1,200 for the brainiac, and the promised 300 for the small fry. So pay up now, or no one leaves and I get an extra 1,000 from your city for you two!" 

"You can't do that!" Quill said. 

"Wait, are you saying we're only worth 500 poke each?" Aamira asked. "We're worth more than that!" 

"Don't encourage him!" 

"No." Charmeleon smirked. "I'd say you would be worth about 600 and your friend would only be worth 400." 

"What!" The flames on Quill's back suddenly came to life. "Why am I only worth 400!" 

"Don't provoke him!" Aamira said. 

"You two really are pathetic." He smirked. "Okay, 600 for the muscle head and 500 for sparks." 

"We're not paying 6,100!" Quill yelled. 

"You're not, but if you don't give me the 5,000 for these four, that's what your town will have to pay. Now give me my money, or you'll end up like your friends over here. 

"That's completely unreasonable!" Aamira shouted. "We don't even have any money on us! Those three stole it!"

"WHAT!" The flame on Charmeleon's tail flared up in his rage. "YOU DARE COME FOR MY HOSTAGES WITHOUT ANY MONEY AT ALL!" 

Charmeleon attacked the two of them with a powerful Flamethrower. Quill and Aamira were just barely able to dodge in time. Quill used Ember, but it didn't do much against a fire type. Charmeleon used Metal Claw and knocked Quill on his back. Charmeleon knocked Quill out of the way and used Dragon Rage on Aamira, then used Flamethrower. 

"I never thought an outlaw could be this brutal…" Quill said to Aamira. "We have to do something…" 

Aamira struggled to get up. "I won't lose to this guy…" 

Charmeleon went to use Flamethrower again, but Aamira dodged it with Quick Attack and, as if automatically, slammed her hand on Charmeleon's head. Right before she made contact, her hand started glowing. 

"That was Force Palm!" Quill shouted. "Your level really does go up fast!" 

Charmeleon seemed to be stuck in that position. "Can't… move…" 

"He's paralyzed!" Quill used Tackle and knocked Charmeleon back. 

Aamira used Quick Attack and knocked Charmeleon against the rock wall. Recovering from his paralysis, Charmeleon got up and used Metal Claw on both of them. 

"You think you can keep me down for long? Look at you! You're in a worse state than these four! And still fighting!" Charmeleon laughed. "This is actually a bit amusing, but enough playing around!" 

Charmeleon started glowing red hot.

"Oh, no!" Quill said. "I forgot his special ability! When Charmeleon's badly hurt his attack goes up. That means…." 

"I can use my most powerful attack without being weakened!" Charmeleon's tail suddenly flared up until it was illuminating the whole ridge. He opened his mouth and used an attack that looked similar to Flamethrower but it was a lot more powerful. 

Quill, being a fire type, wasn't affected as much as he normally was, but Aamira wasn't as lucky. Being a fighting type, she was affected as someone normally would have been and was knocked out. Luckily, they still had the Reviver Seed that the Keckleon sisters gave them, and she was healed completely. 

"Figures…" Charmeleon breathed out a small breath of fire angrily. "You Investigation Teams always have a trick up your sleeve…" 

Aamira looked at Quill. He was badly hurt. Then she looked at Charmeleon, who still looked strong enough to dish out another Overheat attack if he wanted to. She looked all around her and only saw one way of getting out of this without either of them getting hurt anymore than they already had been. 

"I.. I surrender." Her voice shook as she said it. 

"No! Aamira!" Quill tried to get up, but fell over again, cringing in pain. 

"Oh? Surrender? How interesting." Charmeleon thought for a moment. "Though I'm sure you would want some kind of catch for it. 

"Just let Quill go." 

"That's all? You don't care about the others?" 

"Not like you would. You would be losing money if you let them go just to make me surrender." 

"Finally an investigator with a brain. It's a wonder why Riolu and Lucario have nearly entirely died out." 

'Died out…?' 

"Hostage? No, I have a better idea. Why not join me? You'd be making much more money than you are now, and everyone would know your name. I'll only be willing to give you thirty percent, but just for these four, that's still 1,500 poke, equal to my bounty with none of the trouble. And I'll still let your friend go, so how's that?" 

"Sounds good to me." Aamira walked up next to Charmeleon. 

"NO! Aamira, please stop!" Quill got up and started walking slowly towards Charmeleon. 

"Just go home, kid." Charmeleon growled. "You're lucky I even considered it, it's a near miracle that I'm letting you go.

"Give it a break, will you?" Aamira snapped at him. Quill looked shocked. "You said it yourself that most teams are only in it for the money, so why should this surprise you? I'll become famous my own way." 

Charmeleon laughed at Quill's tears and didn't notice Team Slacker waking up. Vigoroth looked like he was about to attack, but Aamira's glance stopped him. She looked at Slakoth and her eyes moved to the cliff behind them and back to Slakoth. His eye's widened; he nodded, and whispered something to his brothers. They all started backing up a little, in spite of their injuries. 

Charmeleon saw movement out of the right corner of his eye and turned to Team Slacker. "And where do you think you're going? Hey, Aamira was it? I'm not doing all the work if you want to get your cut. Now prove you're on my side and stop them!" 

"They tied us up and left us in a canyon! I'm still not taking that, even if I'm playing on another side now." 

Aamira focused her energy to her hand. Then she used Force Palm on the cliff next to her. Before Charmeleon realized what had happened, the rocks on the cliff fell on top of him and knocked him unconscious. 

"You're a pretty convincing actor…" Vigoroth said, obviously feeling a bit scared. 

"And so was Quill." Slakoth said. "You were acting too, weren't you? It was obvious to me, but it was enough to convince Charmeleon. 

Quill laughed feebly for a moment. "Yea… I'm just able to tell with Aamira. I probably would have been bursting into tears and punching the ground if Aamira had actually decided to join him." He pulled out an Oran Berry, which he never had the chance to eat before now, and healed himself a little. 

"We apologize…" Aamira and Quill noticed that Slacking hardly ever talked and when he did, it was usually in speaking for the three of them and not just himself. 

"We don't really hold that big of a grudge." Quill looked over and saw the terrified Oddish now cowering in a crack in the cliff.

Aamira walked over and pulled him out. "It's okay, we took care of Charmeleon for you."

"I… I just want to go home… I want my mommy…" He said. 

"Don't worry, we'll go home as soon as we can." 

"B-Behind you!" 

"You traitor!" Charmeleon ran towards Aamira was a staff raised above his head and the spear end pointed towards Aamira. 

Aamira raised her hand in an attempt to use Force Palm, but instead her energy started radiating in a blue sphere in front of her hand. Somehow she was able to fire the sphere at Charmeleon and knocked hid halfway across the ridge. 

"Aamira!" Quill ran over to her. "That's impossible! Aura Sphere?" 

"Well, well!" Slakoth said. "It seems our friend is just full of surprises. Something isn't right though… Riolu aren't supposed to be able to use Aura Sphere until they evolve into Lucario. Who exactly are you?" 

"I'm not really the right person to ask, seeing as how I don't know." 

"Could you try that again, though? I just want to see it really quickly." 

Aamira raised her hand like she did earlier and tried focusing. After a few minutes, she gave up and let her arm fall to her side. "I can't do it…" 

"How strange…" Slakoth thought for a minute. "Maybe just because you were in danger? I don't know." Charmeleon groaned behind them. "Better get him tied up and bring him and Oddish back home. 

Chansey wouldn't even let Vileplume hug Oddish until she healed his burns. After leaving Quill and Aamira tied in the canyon, Team Slacker agreed to let them have the full reward, but they were still, after years, raised to bronze rank. After Chansey healed both members of Team Sleuth and they got their reward, Aamira and Quill both headed home.

"So what's going to happen to Charmeleon?" Aamira asked. 

"There's a prison hidden somewhere in the mountains to the east. He won't be able to escape, and hopefully when he's eventually let go, he won't try anything like today ever again." 

Aamira didn't say anything. 

"What are you thinking about?" Quill asked her. 

"Something Charmeleon said. He said that Riolu and Lucario are starting to die out…" 

"He did?" 

"And it was after I tricked him into thinking I was on his side, so I know he really meant it."

"Well it's true that Riolu aren't really pokemon you see very often, especially around here, but dieing out?" 

"I was thinking… maybe there's some kind of connection between that and me being turned into a Riolu." 

"Who knows? I guess maybe if we just keep up our work as an Investigation Team, things will start making some sense eventually. Like Aura Sphere. Riolu aren't supposed to be able to control their aura well enough to use Aura Sphere." 

"But what exactly is aura anyway? There's the Aura Glass, the Aura Staff, and apparently I have something to do with aura." 

"Well everyone does, but you especially. Lucario, the evolved form of Riolu, is the aura pokemon. Riolu are sometimes thought of as the apprentice form compared to Lucario, which are often thought of as masters. Aura is the energy that is contained within everything in the world. Being able to control aura is nearly impossible, unless used in attacks and items, but it's a Riolu's and Lucario's specialty. Some people think that all these dungeons and pokemon going bad is even because of something going wrong with that natural energy." 

"And might explain why I turned into a Riolu of all pokemon. I mean, what are the odds? So maybe something happening to the world's energy and me turning into a Riolu are connected?" 

"We won't find out unless we keep up our work as an Investigation Team. We should probably get some rest for tomorrow too…" 

"Yea, I guess so." 

Both of them went up to their rooms, but Aamira couldn't sleep. The more she thought about it, the sadder and more confused she got. Who was she? Unable to sleep in her hammock because of the light from the moon outside, she curled up in the chair next to her book case and laid her head on her head down on her folded up scarf, the last thing she had to remind her of her past.


	4. Chapter 4 Epidemic

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Aamira asked Noctowl.

"Simply walk all over the city and see if anyone needs help with anything. If so, do whatever you can to help them out." Noctowl said. "Most of our citizens prefer to figure things out on their own, but some things may be too big for them to handle, so they'll look for the closest Investigation Team. And since some people won't be able to pay with money, they might even give you a furniture item."

"More furniture?" Quill thought of the empty HQ they had in the spark division of town. "Yea, that might be nice. But besides that people might need our help. Might not be as exciting as taking down an outlaw, of course."

"You thought that was exciting!" Aamira yelled at him.

"You know you liked acting like the bad guy!"

"Well… okay that part was kinda funny, but that was serious! Oddish and Team Slacker could've been in an even worse state than they were, and we both ended up worse off than any of them."

"But you don't get it. People don't want someone that's too serious helping them and they want us to look like we can to everything. Sure I worry, but a confident smile and attitude helps to reassure people, even if we were in a situation where we don't have any clue of what we're doing!"

"You mean like lying?"

"No, just to make people not feel as scared as they normally would in a bad situation. Like a couple years ago there was a forest fire and all the teams with water types took charge without being asked. They didn't smile much, but they looked confident. It's all about attitude."

"That sounds like a poster that would be hanging up in a school."

"It is. But it has Team Overgrow on it."

Aamira rolled her eyes. "You're obsessed. But whatever, we still have a job to do."

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Noctowl asked. "It was Team Sky who was on patrol yesterday and they did admirably. You two have some tough competition."

The little Oddish from the day before suddenly ran up. "Team Sleuth! Team Sleuth! I'm so glad it was you two I found! I need an Oran Berry! My mom suddenly got sick and Chansey left somewhere."

"There are lots growing around Shroud Lake." Quill said. "Oran Berries like wet soil like the soil by the lake."

"I tried that, but for some reason the Oran berries near the lake aren't ripe yet. They're still green." Oddish looked worried.

"What about the river division?" Aamira asked.

"There might be some down there, but I don't know." Quill said. "I try to avoid the river for obvious reasons, but it wouldn't hurt to look."

Oddish couldn't stop hopping around. "Please check! Please look! Please hurry!"

"Don't worry!" Aamira smiled. "We won't let anything bad happen!"

Quill was a little reluctant to go into the river division, since he was a fire type and their worst rivals had lived there before making off with a bunch of stolen Investigation Team items. Not many of the water type pokemon that lived there looked really nice but it turned out looks could be deceiving. They got directions from an Octillery and found their way to the river in no time. On the rocky shore they found some Oran berry trees.

"Woa there!" A Cherrim with a western accent popped out of the tree suddenly. Its pedals were in full bloom, a sign of good weather.

"These don't belong to anyone do they?" Quill asked.

"Oh, I hadn't even thought of that…" Aamira admitted.

"Sure do!" The Cherrim ruffled her pedals. "These Oran berries are all mine. Don't mind sharin em o'course!"

"Then why'd you stop us?" Quill asked.

"Things've gotten mighty strange around the riverfront lately. Must be somethin' in the water, else I wouldn't be in full bloom! Thing is though… all the Oran berried have become poisonous somehow!"

"Poisonous?" Aamira said. "You can't be serious! There's a little Oddish's mom who's really sick all of a sudden and for some reason the Oran berries by the lake aren't ripe yet. What else can we do?"

"What about those?" Quill pointed at a tree with some pink heart shaped berries on them. "Surely a Pecha Berry wouldn't be poisonous! They're supposed to cure poison."

"No, I don't think they would be." Cherrim said. "But by any chance, would the person you be talkin' 'bout be Vileplume from the Pedal Shop?"

"I think so." Quill said.

"Poor dear." Cherrim said. "Old friend o' mine. I grow the berries, she makes furniture out o' the trees and bushes when they don't grown berries no more and from the flowers that fall off when the berries ripen. Makes a few other things too. Helped a lot of people in Vine City, that's for sure! But it just so happened that she came here this very mornin and we ate some o' those Oran berries together before I knew they were tainted. I started feeling bad a while ago and ate one o' them Pecha berries and felt better in no time!"

"So they'll definitely work?" Quill asked.

"Sure as the sun is bright!" Cherrim ruffled her pedals again. "Go ahead and take a few. Give Vileplume as many as she needs to be up'n runnin again, then you can keep the rest!"

"Really?" Aamira picked one of the berries. "And you'll just give them to us?"

"Sure! Anythin' for someone that be tryin' to help an old friend! This is a one time freebee though so don't come looking for any more unless you be willin' to pay a little."

"It will really work?" Oddish hopped around from foot to foot like earlier. They were inside the Pedal Shop in the Forest Division of town.

"It should." Quill handed the Pecha Berry to Vileplume who looked worse than they had imagined.

Vileplume's arm shook as she took it. It looked like every movement took a lot of energy to make. She ate it slowly, still shaking, before her color started coming back. Her drooping flower regained its life and Vileplume stood up shakily. "Th-thank you…" Her voice was shaking and she was still shivering a little, but she looked better than before.

"You should probably rest a little more before you're up and walking around." Quill said.

"No, no! I'll be fine!"

"Mama has a reputation for being the most stubborn person in Vine City." Oddish said happily. "Must be from all the haggling!"

"And I know just the thing for your reward!"

Vileplume led them into the very back of the shop. At a first glance it was just filled with tons of flowers and other plants, but when they looked again, Quill and Aamira noticed it was all made into the shape of furniture.

"Yes, here they are!" Vileplume picked up a couple of leaves that she had somehow made fluffy. "These are Slakoth Pillows. I found a way to hollow out the giant leaves that fall from the forest's canopy and double the space inside and strengthen the outside. They're practically indestructible and really soft! It's made so soft from a Slakoth's yawn. That's what it's actually filled with. It will help you get to sleep faster and is guaranteed to give you good dreams!"

"Guaranteed for good dreams?" Aamira held the pillow between her hands. It really was unbelievably soft.

"Yes, and actually I'm doing this as a bit of a test. I don't know if it will effect an aura and a fire type as well as it does grass types. Just think, 'guaranteed for good dreams except for in fire types and any pokemon that has to do with aura.' Not much of a slogan. So if you would, I would like you, Quill, to try your hardest, after getting into the testing room of course, to set it on fire."

"Oh, mama! It's just like always! After getting out of one bad situation you go straight back to work. I really do wish you would take a break sometimes." Oddish walked to Quill and Aamira and whispered to them. "She's also a bit touchy if her experiments don't go over well."

"I am not!" Vileplume opened up a hidden stare case and led them down into a large cave beneath the shop.

A strange blue-white light came from crystals imbedded in the walls. Aamira's eyes glowed the same color.

Before Quill even saw it he could feel something was wrong. He turned and saw his friend's eyes and started to panic. "Aamira! What's happening?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Vileplume pressed on a larger crystal and the others went out.

Quill flared up for light when the room turned dark. Aamira's eyes faded and she shook her head to snap out of the trance. "What happened…?"

"I'm sorry!" Vileplume took some of the fire off of quill with a torch and lit some other ones around the room. "I completely forgot about the effect those have on Lucario, and I suppose, one Riolu. The truth is, I think you can control aura more than you think. It's as if you're not really a Riolu, but not a Lucario either. It's as if you're something else."

Aamira laughed nervously. "Yea, well… I don't really know about that."

Vileplume must have though Aamira had meant that she couldn't control aura. "Oh don't be ridiculous! Oddish told me about that Aura Sphere!"

"Mom!" Oddish looked a little frustrated.

"Well anyway, all I need you to do is lay down with this pillow and try not to fall asleep!" Vileplume's last words weren't even needed. Aamira was already asleep on the ground with her head on the pillow. "She didn't even take her scarf off. Is that safe? Perhaps a little too perfect…" Vileplume turned to Quill. "Okay just put it on your back and flare up as much as possible."

Quill did so, but as much as he tried, he eventually collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep himself. There wasn't even a scorch mark on the pillow.

Quill and Aamira woke up outside of Town Hall. Noctowl laughed when he saw their confusion. "Technically you're supposed to come back here after finishing a mission, but we had to get someone to carry you here."

"Don't take it personally though." Alakazam said. "Vileplume has a strange way of showing her appreciation."

"Are you kidding?" Aamira had a weird dreamy look. "That was the best sleep I can remember! And that dream was so real!"

Quill laughed. "Someone finally learned to smile!"

"I was in an endless field of flowers next to a crystal clear lake, and the sun was so bright and warm and I felt all fuzzy and—." Aamira stopped and blushed. "Yea, they make some good stuff…"

"Well don't sit around slouching all day! You're fully rested, so continue your patrol!"

"Right!" Aamira and Quill both saluted more cheerful than usual and ran off into the city.

"What do you mean it hasn't come yet?"

"That's Daisy's voice, isn't it?" Aamira asked.

"Yea I think so." Quill led the way over to the Keckleon Shop. "What's going on here?"

"It's this guy." Willow gestured to an orange otter-like pokemon. "He said our delivery guy can't deliver our package for some reason!"

"We usually get Floatzel to bring our delivery up the river and Buizel here delivers it to us, but now we might actually have to go down to the post office and pick it up…" Daisy said.

"The thing is that we each specialize in different items and we never know what a customer would want before they tell us, so it's not like we can just run and get it. That's why we have Floatzel deliver them."

"Wait, you two are on patrol today right? I suppose we could give you Floatzel's pay if you deliver our package."

"Why not?" Aamira said. "It's not like it's really far away, right?"

Daisy shook her head. "No, not at all. We just don't have the time."

"Oh yea! That reminds me." Quill said to Aamira. "There's something at the post office I've been meaning to show you."

Both Keckleon sisters were astonished. "You haven't showed 'it' to her yet?"

"We haven't really had the time, but since we're going that way anyway, why not?"

"Yes go on!" Willow said. "We'll count that as part of your mission!"

Aamira questioned Quill about 'it' the whole way there but Quill refused to say anything. The only thing he ever said was that it was something worth seeing.

The post office was made in the side of a wide tree. At the top was a platform made from vines and tree branches that had grown larger than the others. Aamira wondered what it was for and her question was quickly answered when a flock of Delibird landed on it with their sacks full of mail and packages. The post office was far away from the edge of town where a long stretch of bare land met the river. This way, along with the Delibird, mail could be delivered by air, sea, or land. And sure enough, there was also a group of Doduo at the back of the post office.

"Explains why Willow and Daisy need us to do the delivery." Quill said. "Floatzel's the only pokemon that makes water deliveries and the Delibird only deliver from other countries or important messages, like jobs for Investigation Teams. Of course, the Doduo aren't a really reliable bunch. Their heads start fighting and they sometimes drop and lose or damage whatever they're delivering. Really good for fast deliveries though."

"Looks like they haven't gotten a lot of exercise lately…" Aamira said.

Quill laughed. "I think for deliveries we have to go through the back." He led the way around past the Doduo to some vine ladders. They led through a hole in an upper floor, which was the delivery room. The room was lined with shelves and boxes organized in sections for everyone in Vine City.

"An Investigation Team out to do some deliveries?" An older Delibird at the desk asked.

"Floatzel can't make a delivery for some reason, so Daisy and Willow asked us to pick up a package." Aamira said.

"Yes, yes." Delibird nodded thoughtfully. "Something in the water, he said. He said it burned to the touch for some reason."

"Isn't that what Cherrim said?" Aamira asked Quill.

"Yea I think so." Quill said.

"Well, I don't think I've ever seen you around before!" Delibird adjusted his glasses. "I take it you're here to see the Hall of Fame?"

"There's a Hall of Fame?" Aamira looked at Quill. "Is that what you wanted me to see?"

"Yea, it's so cool. Team Overgrow got in it years ago. Oh, and there's a new team being added today, isn't there? I almost forgot!"

"Forgot something like that?" Delibird was struggling with a large package. "I'll get a group of Delibird to take this down front while you two go take a look for yourselves. If you ask me, it looks like a nasty bunch. But then again, I'd still say you look like a couple of kids."

The entrance to the Hall of Fame was practically hidden at the base of a tree behind the post office. In a space between the roots was a staircase that led deep underground. In the Hall of Fame there were tons of pokemon, whether real, in pictures, or statues.

"Please don't touch the statues!" A brown levitating pokemon with round eyes and what looked like half a halo floating above its head flew with astonishing speed in between some kids and an old crumbling statue. He was so fast the kids jumped back and some of them even yelled. "This one in particular is very old and could crumble to pieces at any minute!" Right as he spoke a piece of the statues base crumbled and fell off. "You see? Now what would've happened if someone actually touched it?"

"Now, Shedinja, don't you think you're being too hard on the kids?" Espeon asked. "This is their first time here after all."

"Little miscreants! That's all they are! As long at that Cyndaquil isn't…" Shedinja noticed Quill and Aamira at the precise moment. "Well speak of the devil… IT'S YOU!"

Quill cringed and the flames on his back flared up.

"Don't do that in here! You'll burn the paintings and if a fire starts there's only one way out!"

"Well if it isn't Team Sleuth?" Espeon pranced over to the two of them. "I hear you two are already making a name for yourselves. Come for a tour?"

"Well, yea, but—."

"Now, Quill." Espeon said. "You know what Shedinja's like. Just ignore him and join us for the tour."

"No! I will not have a repeat of last year!" Shedinja shouted at Quill. "Never again! Maybe you thought I didn't mean it when I said you were banned, but—."

"As it turns out, Shedinja, Quill came back every day since and you haven't even noticed!" A yellow dragon-like pokemon with small green wings and half-moon glasses appeared. "And if I'm not mistaken, you're supposed to be on crowd control by the picture of our new inductees."

"Y-yes, sir! I'm so sorry sir!" Shedinja was so fast to leave it was as if he vanished.

"Dragonite!" Quill's flames finally went out and his cheerfulness returned. He turned to Aamira. "The Hall of Fame is actually further in. This whole area is actually a museum on the history of Investigation Teams. Shedinja is like the caretaker here, but the real owner of the museum is Dragonite. After I was 'banned' by Shedinja, Dragonite let me come back every day since then. His cheerful appearance and personality put everyone in a good mood. He's the nicest pokemon in Vine City! The museum's even free because of it!"

Dragonite laughed and adjusted his glasses. "Well I don't know about being the nicest pokemon, but I do believe the only way everyone could possibly live in peace is if we're all nice and helpful to others. And I see you've made a new friend. A Riolu! Such a rare specimen!"

"Uhh, specimen…?" Aamira felt a little nervous around Dragonite all of a sudden.

Quill felt Aamira's nervousness. "Don't worry about it. He says that to every rare pokemon he sees. He said that to me since there aren't a lot of Cyndaquil in the area and supposedly even to Espeon."

Espeon laughed. "He sure did! That must've been years ago!"

"You two look like you're on a mission. I can just tell." Dragonite leaned closer to Quill. "But seeing as how you've come here every day and know everything in this museum, I'll ask you for a special mission: Give a tour to the new Research Academy students!"

"Really?" Quill looked as if it had always been his dream. And why not? In a way Dragonite had become like a friend. Like a father even. Aamira could tell just from the way Quill looked at Dragonite. "But how do I start?"

"Just start with this statue here like I always do and work your way forward in time."

The way Quill and Dragonite looked together just seemed right to Aamira. The very sight of the two of them was enough to make her smile.

All the kids were looking at Quill with excited expressions. "This statue here is the oldest artifact in Vine City. It was originally what drew people to Shroud Lake before they knew about its healing powers. And like Shedinja was saying its really old and not a good idea to try and touch it, no matter how impressive it might look.

"But if you'll notice on the base of the statue there are words in an ancient language. Apparently the only part that could really be made out when the statue was discovered were the words 'Investigate' 'heroes' and 'peace' so Investigation Teams started up to keep the world at peace. But the most mysterious part is that the statue is too badly damaged to tell what pokemon it was. Some people think that whatever pokemon it was has something to do with Shroud Lake's healing abilities, but it's impossible to tell at this point.

"Eventually when pokemon discovered the abilities of the lake, some pokemon who were able to change the plants into the area into different shapes created Vine City. Similar mysteries were discovered in other areas that a lot of people think might be more important, but the Shroud Lake mystery has always drawn people, especially since that's where all Investigation Teams started." After Quill had started it was as if he had been doing this for years.

"Why you couldn't have just said all of the things you've learned from here for your recital I'll never know…" Espeon said.

Quill suddenly looked shocked and had an "I'm so stupid" look on his face. Aamira laughed and Quill moved on. Aamira noticed that Dragonite moved in a strange way to keep his tail from hitting anything.

"This is a picture of the 'Creators', the name given to the first Investigation Team members. On the left is Umbreon and on the right is Sandslash. Apparently there was a third member but they left the team before this painting was done. You can see the paint's flaking in a few areas so this one's obviously very old too."

"Are they still alive?" An Azuril asked.

"Oh, no. Not for a long time. But it's not because of any horribly challenging investigation." Quill led them all through the museum. "Oh, this one's my favorite." He stopped in front of an old stone carving that was obviously just attached to the wall and wasn't originally there. "This was actually discovered by Noctowl and Alakazam when they were an Investigation Team. What was it again? Team Psy, I think."

It looked so mysterious. There was a large carving of a gem in the center and three others around it. All along the edges were impressive looking pokemon organized into different groups. At the top were two dragon-like pokemon circling each other. They caught Aamira's eye for some reason. It was like they were in perfect harmony with each other.

"What are all these pokemon?" Aamira asked. "They're not like any I've seen."

"They're all legendaries. My favorite two are the ones at the top circling each other." Aamira jumped at what Quill said. "And yours too apparently! I guess just something about them seems to say 'heroes' and 'peace'. It's possible that legendaries could have been the first real Investigators, even before the Creators even though they create the most mysteries. Even Kyogre and Groudon seem to be completely at peace. It doesn't seem real, but at the same time it seems more real than anything."

"It's just the way it is I guess." Aamira said. "Maybe it's supposed to say something important, like it's a symbol."

"That's what I thought too." Quill pointed to a script like the writing on the statue at the entrance. "This says, 'Peace is full of life, and life brings peace'. It's strange since some people who look too deeply into these things think the opposite. Oh, and if you hadn't noticed there's actually a grooved out spot here. No idea what it is. Maybe it's just where it broke, or someone scratched it out on purpose, or maybe something's supposed to fit in it. I've wondered about that a lot, but it might be nothing at all."

All the kids looked at the stone plaque in awe, amazed with Quill's ability to actually read it and in wonder of if there was actually something to the broken spot at the bottom.

"Please, Quill." Dragonite said. "Don't fill the kids' heads up with silly ideas. Alakazam even admitted he dropped it and that's probably what broke it."

"It's almost a perfect circle though." Quill said. "And he didn't know for sure."

"Well, shall we move onto the hall of fame? I hear that our new inductees are getting quite the crowd." Dragonite led the way through the back of the cavern to a separate room.

In the center of the room were statues positioned in a circle all facing inward towards a statue of the Creators in the middle. The walls were lined with pictures of famous Investigators. Some looked unbelievably strong, and others looked small and almost childish. At the back Shedinja was trying to keep a crowd back from one picture in particular.

"That's Team Blazer. On the left is the leader Typhlosion and on the right is Monferno. Have to admit they don't look like the friendliest bunch, but they're extremely reliable. Never failed a single mission."

"Mission!" Aamira's sudden outburst caused Quill to jump. "We forgot the Keckleon Sisters' mission!"

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Quill looked around. "We have to go!"

"No running through the museum!" Shedinja shouted over the crowd at Quill and Aamira. "Don't want a repeat of last time!"

"We started getting worried about you!" Daisy said as she opened the box. "Seeds, berries, TMs, orbs, and scarves of all kinds! Anything an Investigator could ever want!"

Willow gave the two of them the money that normally would've been Floatzel's. "Oh and I think Noctowl was looking for you two."

"There you are." Alakazam showed up behind them. "You two better hurry. Chansey really needs help."

They followed Alakazam back to Town Hall. Chansey was going around to a bunch of little kids all collapsed on the ground. It looked like they were really sick and like they were in pain.

"What happened?" Aamira asked.

Chansey looked at them concerned. "These kids were playing by the river after a tour of the museum and ended up like this."

"It's my fault." An Azuril said. "I said I could swim all the way across the river so then everyone started to try it…"

Chansey sighed. "Well it's very brave that you would take responsibility like this. I don't know how many times I've said it or how many times I've yet to say it, but 99.98% of calamities are caused by the words, 'Hey, look what I can do!' Always! Even with adults."

"We've got some Pecha Berries." Quill said.

"Pecha berries won't work!" Vileplume said in a coarse voice.

"You're sick again?" Aamira asked.

"Yes. I felt fine before, but then it just suddenly came back. We need the Oran berries from Shroud Lake."

"But they're not ripe yet." Quill said.

"Tell them!" Espeon panted. She looked worse than any of them, laying on the ground and breathing really hard, wide eyed.

"Espeon!" Quill ran over to her. "How did you get sick?"

"I jumped in after the kids to get them back. They were too far away to levitate them back."

"We're sorry, Miss Espeon…" All the kids said weakly.

"Well the truth is." Chansey said. "There's a certain pokemon that makes the berries grow by Shroud Lake. It's so foggy there that not enough light reaches the berries. To grow them we need a pokemon that knows Sunny Day. The only pokemon that knows Sunny Day in Vine City is Roserade. She usually comes around this time of year to help with the berries. She's really kindhearted even if she's a little sensitive about her looks. Even if someone insulted her she would come and use her Sunny Day to make the berries grow. Please accept this as a mission! Find Roserade! She lives somewhere across the river."

"But if we swim across we'll get sick too." Aamira said.

"No, wait. There's a vine bridge stretching across the canopy of two high trees. If we can cross on the vines, we could get across." Quill said.

"Go! And hurry!" Noctowl said.

"I feel horrible for causing all of this…" Azuril said.

Across the river, it wasn't too hard to find Roserade. She was pacing along the river. She didn't look like other Roserade. Instead of a blue and red flower on her arms, it was purple and grey and her body was a lighter green than normal.

"Wow." Quill said. "You really are beautiful!"

Roserade heard this, stopped pacing and spun around. "You really think so?" She blushed and winked at Quill. "Well of course you do! It's true, isn't it!" Suddenly snapping out of it, she went back to pacing along the river. "Not the time! Not the time!"

"What are you doing?" Aamira asked.

"I have to clean the water!" She extended vines from somewhere in her arms into the river, then fell backwards and groaned. "It's never been this bad before…" Suddenly she was up and spinning on one foot again. "But I thought with my Natural Cure ability I could clean it. Instead I just end up getting rid of my own poison after my vines suck up the water."

"Listen, this water's really poisonous. Earlier there were some kids swimming in it and they all got sick. There aren't enough Pecha Berries by the river to heal them, and even if they were when we gave someone a Pecha Berry before, they got sick again."

"Oh no…" Roserade said sadly. "We have to do something. I'll go grow the berries with my Sunny Day, but what about the river?"

"Maybe it's something coming from upstream?" Aamira asked. "You can go back and grow the berries and we'll find out what's causing this."

"Alright." Roserade suddenly thought of something. "Last night I heard a loud bang, but rockslides are pretty common around here, so I didn't think much of it."

"Thanks for telling us that." Quill said. "I'm sure that would help."

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there, daddy!"

"Don't even bother… I'm stuck too good."

"Ough! What's that smell?" Aamira asked.

"Smells horrible!" Quill said.

"Someone's coming!"

"Hide!"

"We won't leave you here!"

"What's going on?" Aamira asked.

Along the river was a steep cliff. Like Roserade had predicted there had been a rock fall, but it looked like someone was stuck.

"Go away! We don't need your kinda help!" A small purple pokemon said.

"How else are we going to get papa Muk out?" another one said.

"Grimer and Muk! That must be what's polluting the river!" Quill looked around at the rockslide. "This doesn't look good.

"I've been stuck here all night!" Muk wailed.

"Look, we'll help and we don't want anything in return." Aamira said, figuring that's why they didn't want any help.

"You think this is some kinda charity?" The first Grimer asked.

"No, some kids were playing in the river and they got sick." Quill said. "We need to keep anyone else from getting sick. Besides, you've been stuck here all night, haven't you?"

"I'm so hungry…" Muk said. "Please… just pulverize these rocks so we can go home and eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

"I got it." Aamira charged up a Force Palm and smashed the rock without hurting Muk or the two Grimer. "You can move still can't you?"

Muk stretched up to full height and stretched his arms. "It didn't hurt, I just couldn't get out. You can't hurt a blob with something like rocks. Judged by the speed of the water I'd say the river will be cleaned up by morning."

"Let's go home already!" The Grimer said.

"Right. Thanks again." Muk led the way out of the stream bed and soon disappeared from view.

"How long does this take?" Alakazam asked.

"Be patient!" Chansey snapped at him.

Roserade glowed with a beautiful sunlight which reflected on the lake and the fog around it making her pedals and leaves sparkle. When Aamira and Quill showed up at the lakefront, they stopped in their tracks. Why anyone would insult Roserade's looks was beyond them. Flower buds on the ground started glowing and began to bloom. Smaller berry trees bloomed into beautiful flowers of every size and color. The berries on the trees that weren't ripe before were now the perfect shade of color for their species and the flowers on all the smaller trees blew off as the wind blew and the berries started to come in. The lakefront was now covered in flowers and colorful berry trees and the air was filled with fragrant flower pedals. And still in the middle of it was Roserade glowing beautifully as ever. But in spite of the Sunny Day, the fog still remained.

The whole town had showed up.

"It's so beautiful…" One of them said. "Why would you keep this a secret from us?" Roserade looked as if she thought they were talking about HER being beautiful and not her and everything else by the lake.

"I've been thinking this for a few years, but I know how nervous you get about your appearance." Noctowl said as the light from Roserade faded. "Why not turn this whole event into a festival?"

"That would be lovely!" Roserade said calmly in her sweet voice. Apparently the peoples' comments reassured her enough so that she wouldn't worry as much about her looks anymore. "Oh but the river…"

"It was a Muk." Aamira said. "It was trapped by a rock fall. We got it out and Muk said the river should be clean again by morning."

All the kids were healed completely along with Espeon. As soon as Vileplume was back on her feet, she went about collecting some of the flower pedals, making sure there was still enough for the festival scenery. She had been asked to make some festival decorations by Roserade, who even helped (to no one's resentment) with her Pedal Dance. Shedinja, the wonder guard, was still worried about the museum and refused to leave even though everyone else was at the lake. Dragonite showed up though and was making fireworks that shone on the lake with his Thunderwave attack.

"Still think this isn't as exciting as defeating an outlaw?" Aamira asked Quill.

Quill looked at her and laughed. Both of then sat down in the grass by the lake and enjoyed the night. The sky was filled with fireworks and billions of stars, and the Volbeat and Illumise had come out to dance across the lake as the fog reflected it all. Shroud Lake which was normally so dark and mysterious from the fog was now a thing of beauty.

Aamira had a though and a feeling that not even Quill could've guessed. 'I think I could get used to this…'


	5. Chapter 5 Bronze Rank

"Don't worry, Caterpie." Mankey picked up the terrified Caterpie. In spite of her tough appearance she was also kindhearted.

"You're safe with Team Sky!" Aipom said.

"But all the pokemon around here are… They're… horrible!" The terrified Caterpie trembled in Mankey's hands.

"We know. Don't worry and just leave them to us." Mankey said in a soothing voice. A dark shadow was cast over Caterpie and Team Sky.

"Then what!" Quill begged.

"Well things get really crazy after that!" Aipom swung back onto her tail.

Mankey stomped on the ground. "We took care of them though! No pokemon's too strong for Team Sky!"

Caterpie smiled up at them. "And now I'm a part of the unbeatable Team Sky! So cool! So cool!"

"Well it sounds like you two have been doing well since we competed in the entrance exam." Aamira said modestly. "Bronze Rank already!"

"Yep!" Team Sky flashed their bronze Aura Glasses in the evening light.

"It's weird, but I kind of grew attached to our old wooden Aura Glasses." Mankey said. "And you two should try hard to catch up so you can start recruiting more members."

"Well, come on! Come on!" Aipom said excitedly. "Let's go see if they added your room to our Treehouse yet!"

"Okay!" Caterpie timidly followed Aipom and Mankey towards the forest division.

"Well it seems like they're really doing well." Aamira noticed that Quill was shaking. "What's gotten into you?"

"LET'S GO! We've got to do more missions to catch up to them!" Quill grabbed Aamira's hand and practically dragged her to town square.

"Wait, where are we going?" Aamira asked. "We've already done our mission for the day!"

"Don't you know? Usually we get some really tough missions or we're just on patrol so we either don't have the time or are too tired to do anything else, but if we have time we can do extra missions by going to the help center."

Quill stopped at a Bulletin Board across from Kangaskhan's Storage and began looking through some messages. "How about this one? 'Deliver the following ingredients: 4 Oran Berries, 7 Pecha Berries, 2 Rawst Berries, 3 Cerri Berries, and 1 Tamato Berry. Bring to Nuzleaf the Herbalist in deep Jungle Overgrow by sundown for a 1,000 poke reward.' Ohh… Jungle Overgrow is a tough dungeon to get through…"

"We're still taking the mission, aren't we?" Aamira asked.

"Won't know if we can get through unless we try! Besides, we have to get caught up to Team Sky!"

"I wonder why an Herbalist would want a bunch of berries though."

"We'll find out when we get there, won't we? Now let's go find Cherrim to get these berries."

"Why can't we just take the ones from Shroud Lake? There are plenty of berries down there."

"All those berries belong to the city. We can only take those if we need them while on patrol or if Chansey asked us to get some. It's been over a week since you got here. I would've thought you would be used to the city rules by now."

Aamira scratched her head. "It's a lot to take in at once. I just need some more time."

"Well we don't have much time to do the mission! The message says by sundown!" Quill tore the message off the board and put it in his Collection Bag.

"Are you sure this is it…?" Aamira asked when they reached a cave made of vines which was surrounded by giant overgrown tropical plants.

"Wh-What? S-scared already?" Quill was shivering really badly.

"We don't have to take this mission. It took so long to get here it's almost sundown anyway."

"It's a really distant dungeon. What would you expect? And we can't just abandon the mission! That would reflect badly on the city. Once we take a mission we have to at least try to complete it." Thunder rumbled in the distance and Quill jumped. "And besides, the jungle will probably be the best place to be in with that storm that's rolling in."

A loud clap of thunder made Quill jump. It was still really far away; the sky wasn't even cloudy yet except for on the horizon, but it was moving in fast.

"Alright, let's get going." Aamira walked into the dungeon behind Quill who practically ran in.

There was nothing but the cave of vines stretching really far in one direction. Just when they both started to think they hadn't found the right place, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. When they stepped out the vine cave closed up behind them. They looked around at all the colorful plants and pokemon. The dungeon's maze branched off in a ton of different directions. It looked like just finding their way out of the maze would be more difficult, not to mention having to defeat any pokemon that attacked them.

"Well, let's get going." Aamira was still looking around, but moved forward slowly.

It took a minute for Quill to reply. "Right…" He slowly followed while still looking around.

The maze didn't look like a dungeon. It was barely even like a maze. It was just like some hidden forest with paths branching off in every which way. The only thing that kept them sure they were in a dungeon was the pokemon that would attack them. One type that looked like a tree didn't attack unless startled or if they came too close. Quill told Aamira it was called a Sudowoodo.

The majority of pokemon were bug and grass types. One bug pokemon they kept running into over and over again was called Masquerain. Its bigger wings that looked like eyes always made them freeze up for a second. One of the grass pokemon they kept running into which was also giving them a lot of trouble was called Tropius. Besides those there were a lot of other pokemon too. Staravia, Bidoof, Kricketune, Shinx, Roselia, Wormadam, Cherubi, Buneary, Glameow, Lombre, Seedot, Surskit, Jumpluff, Sunflora, and Quill even thought he saw an Aipom and Mankey.

"Well maybe Aipom and Mankey could live in this jungle…" Aamira said. "But didn't you think before you saw a Heatran in Stony Ridge? Maybe you just get excited to easily."

"Yea, or maybe you just don't look hard enough." Quill said.

"Good point."

The sky started to grow darker. Thunder clapped somewhere close by and lightning hit the ground. A wind started blowing, at first lightly, but then it started to get more violent. They pushed their selves on in the wind that was almost impossible to walk against. Pokemon in the dungeon were seemingly unaffected and kept going with their attacks. When a mob of pokemon all came from one direction, they got lucky and a tree fell in between them.

"This is impossible! I can't even see anymore and it hasn't even started to rain yet!" Aamira shouted over the wind.

"We just have to find somewhere to stop!" Quill yelled back knowing it was pretty much impossible.

The ground started shaking and a stampede of pokemon rushed at them, nearly trampling them. They all looked so scared as if they were no longer dungeon pokemon.

"What's going on?" Aamira shouted to Quill.

"I've heard if something really bad happens sometimes a dungeon might start falling apart! All the pokemon are turning back to normal!"

"That's good, right?"

"No! If this continues, the dungeon will collapse completely and the environment might change in any way! There's no telling what might happen."

"Let's get out of here. It's too much for us to handle!"

Another group of pokemon ran by. The two of them followed. Being pushed on by the wind, it was a lot easier. The ground shook again. All the pokemon ran faster than before. Some of the smaller ones ended up getting trampled and Quill and Aamira stopped to help them back up. Other groups of pokemon came from every direction and joined the stampede.

The ground shook worse than before and a fissure opened up right in the middle of the stampede. Some pokemon fell in it, including Aamira, and a huge bit of rock shot up from it making a rock wall. Other fissures opened and similar things happened. In some areas the land rose or fell, and sometimes the fissures opened up and created large canyons.

One large group of pokemon remained stranded on a high plateau. A few were missing and a few were being carried by larger pokemon after they got badly hurt somehow. Quill remained with the group of smaller pokemon who had been trampled by the larger ones in the panic. Quill looked out over the jungle, which now looked only like a jungle. A tornado was ravaging the land. The smaller pokemon that Quill and Aamira had helped stayed around Quill, eyes wide with fear.

Everyone was in a panic still at the sight of the tornado. The winds were still strong and a few were worried of being pushed off the plateau. Sometimes some of the pokemon would start panicking so much that they would fall off the plateau and barely be able to push themselves back up.

"This is it! We're done for!" One of them shouted.

"What are we going to do!"

"There's nothing left to do!"

"Is this a punishment! Did we do something wrong!"

Quill looked over the chaos. He didn't know which way to turn first. "HEY!" He was actually loud enough to drown out everyone else's voices and the wind. Everyone looked in his direction. "JUST CALM DOWN!" He held up his Aura Glass. "I'M AN INVESTIGATION TEAM MEMBER! I CAN HELP!"

"Yea, then why are you stuck up here with us!" An Altaria shouted at him.

"That's a normal rank Aura Glass, isn't it? What can you do?"

"Well I can't do anything unless I get some cooperation! Now if you're all sure this is the end, what do you have to lose by trusting me!"

Everyone went quiet and looked around at each other.

"Do you even have a plan?" A Sunflora asked.

"Actually, I did think of something while we were running. I need all the pokemon that can fly or glide over here.

Surprisingly they all listened. Soon he was joined by a group of Staravia, Masquerain, Swablu, Altaria, Beautifly, Dustox, Jumpluff, Tropius, Gligar, and Gliscor. The group, as far as size goes, was cut in half. Most of them were smaller pokemon, which worked with Quill's plan.

Quill looked around suddenly realizing that someone was missing. "Before I do anything else, has anyone seen a Riolu?" Everyone looked around. Their expression said it all. "Right… Okay, smaller flying pokemon should join up with as many of the smaller pokemon as they can. Larger flying pokemon should join up with the larger pokemon."

After a lot of surprisingly organized movement, almost everyone was organized into groups. Quill helped some of the other pokemon that weren't yet in a group to find some partners. In the end some smaller pokemon were with larger pokemon, but it was better in Quill's opinion.

"Alright, anyone in a group with a Tropius, climb onto the Tropius's back and no eating the fruit around their necks." Everyone listened to Quill and did so.

"Okay, any smaller flying pokemon will have to carry the pokemon in their group. If there are too many for you to carry, the pokemon that can't fly will have to hold onto each other as tightly as possible." Again they listened and organized themselves into a way that would be easy enough for the flying pokemon to pick them up.

"Now Staravia, Altaria, and Gliscor, if you can try to carry some of the smaller pokemon in your group on your backs." The two smallest pokemon from each group were able to climb onto their backs without it being too much for them to carry.

"Alright." Quill climbed onto the back of a Tropius that didn't have as many pokemon to carry as the others. "As soon as a strong enough gust of wind comes, push off from the ground and fly as fast as you can. Make sure that a group doesn't get separated. If one does, don't break away from the larger group to try to get them back with the group. If a group does get separated from the larger group, the flying pokemon in the group is in charge and should lead everyone towards that giant rock formation in the west. Once every group joins up there, we'll stop and rest for the night."

"Wait a second." A Jumpluff said. "Some of the pokemon got separated when those fissures started opening up."

"I know. My teammate got separated from us too. Hopefully she's taken charge of them, but either way in the morning we'll set out to find the missing pokemon. By then the storm should have calmed down."

All the flying pokemon faced away from the wind and looked towards the giant rock formation. Quill looked behind them at the jungle below. The trees rippled in a strong wind that was coming their way.

"Get ready!" he shouted.

The wind started. All the flying pokemon ran towards the edge of the plateau and leaped into the air while carrying all the other pokemon. The Tropius that Quill was on took the lead and all the other flying pokemon flew into a V formation behind them. Flying was easy in spite of the heavy loads most of the flying pokemon had to carry because of the wind. They flew with the wind which didn't start to die down for a few miles. By the time it did they were nearly at the rock formation. They flapped their wings desperately to keep going farther, but for pokemon like Gligar, Gliscor, and Jumpluff, they fell with the wind. The other pokemon thought for a moment of stopping to stay with the group, but remembered what Quill had said.

All the flying pokemon arrived just a few yards away from the rock formation. Everyone walked the rest of the way and waited for the few groups that had gotten separated to join them. Within an hour everyone was back together again.

They found a sturdy cave that was made by the dungeon's collapse. The group of pokemon decided stayed there for the night. While everyone else went to sleep before the sun had even set, Quill stayed by the cave entrance and looked out over the jungle.

"Aamira, where are you!"

"Grandpa, the storm's rolling in fast! Shouldn't we hurry home?" A young Seedot asked a Nuzleaf.

"Yes, I should think so… Just after we find those berries!"

"But there aren't any of the berries you need in the jungle. The climate's too humid for them."

"Oh my…" Nuzleaf stopped his grandson from going any further. In front of them where a dungeon used to be was a mess of collapsed trees and pokemon. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Grandpa! We have to take them back to our house!"

"Right. Help me carry all of them." He looked over all the pokemon again. "We may need to make a few return trips…"

"Looks like we're out of time to find the berries we needed…" Seedot said as he looked out over the jungle at the setting sun. "I guess it doesn't really matter though. We saved all these pokemon." Seedot looked around at all the pokemon that were now either playing or watching over the pokemon that were playing. "Grandpa?"

Nuzleaf was watching over the only pokemon that hadn't woken up yet. A young Riolu who had worse injuries than any of the other pokemon. "Dear me, we may need to call an Investigation Team to bring us some herbs from Shroud Lake…"

Seedot jumped up onto the straw bed that the Riolu was laying on. He accidentally knocked her bag off the bed and some berries and an Aura Glass fell out. "Grandpa! She's an Investigation Team member!"

Nuzleaf picked up all the things that had fallen out of the bag. "Looks like she came here for our mission and got caught up in the storm." He shook his heard. "This is all my fault for sending for an Investigation Team. We can't ask for another one now." He looked at her scarf and saw a name on it. "Aamira? Hmm… Well I'm sure she'll have no problem recovering."

Aamira started fidgeting and her eyes opened. At the sight of Nuzleaf she shrieked and fell backwards off the bed.

"Are you all right?" Nuzleaf helped her back up. "Don't worry, I'm Nuzleaf the Herbalist. I believe you came here for my mission?"

"Oh… right… The mission…" Aamira stood up uneasily and leaned against the wall. "Where's Quill?"

"Who?" Nuzleaf looked around at the other pokemon. "You're the only Investigation Team member we've found."

Aamira stood up straight and went for the door. "He must still be out there! I have to—" her legs buckled under her and she fell on the ground.

"You can't leave! You're too badly hurt! Rest here for the night. It's the least we can do, seeing as how you wouldn't be in this situation if it hadn't been for our mission…"

"No, it was Quill. He just really wanted to take the most difficult mission he could find so we could catch up to a rival team."

"I see." Nuzleaf shook his head. "These youngsters and the competitions they come up with… even if it is involving Investigation Teams. Alright, well your friend wants to desperately to finish this mission, right? So I'm sure by tomorrow he'll have come here."

"I hope so… By the way, why did you need these berries?"

"Oh, I can't say right now. You'll see in the morning."

"He didn't even tell me!" Seedot said.

Aamira felt someone pulling on her leg. She looked down and saw a group of younger pokemon all standing around her. One of them was holding up a book.

Nuzleaf smiled. "It seems as if these little ones want you to read to them."

Aamira smiled. "Alright." She took the book from the little pokemon, sat down and started to read to them. The story wasn't one that Aamira knew, since she lost her memory, but it seemed familiar to her for some reason. She figured that she must have heard it before she lost her memory.

The story was about three pokemon named Grumpig who all built houses out of different things. After a Houndoom went around trying to eat the first two Grumpig by burning their houses down, the third one let them in his house, which was the only one made out of stone, which Houndoom couldn't burn through.

At the end of the story all the little pokemon were asleep. Aamira laid back on her bed and looked out a window. "Quill, where are you?"

Later that night the storm came at full force. While all the stronger pokemon tried their hardest to keep the hut from being blown away, Aamira sat with the younger pokemon and tried to keep them calm.

"Aamira!" Nuzleaf rushed into the hut. "There's a rockslide coming towards the hut. Can you do anything?"

Aamira got up suddenly. "All of you wait here." The younger pokemon listened.

Aamira rushed out into heavy rain and harsh winds. The stronger pokemon were still surrounding the hut and trying to keep it from being blown over. Aamira ran around the hut and saw tons of rocks rushing down the cliff face the hut was built in front of. Without hesitation, she ran up the side of the cliff and used Force Palm on all of the rocks until they were nothing but powder.

When it reached the bottom it was almost nothing but mud. Aamira pulled herself out and noticed all the pokemon trying desperately to keep the hut on the ground.

"Everyone listen!" Aamira shouted over the rain. "Pile as much mud around the sides of the hut as possible!"

Aamira went to work as soon as she was sure everyone had heard her. After piling up a bunch of mud on one side of the building, the pokemon that were holding that side down helped with piling up mud on the other sides. Soon everyone was helping and the house wasn't moving. Everyone went back inside and collapsed on the ground, not even caring that they were covered in mud.

"How could I ever repay you for putting you through all of this?" Nuzleaf asked that morning after the storm has passed. Lots of trees had fallen, and there was devastation all around, but the sun was brightly shining as if nothing had happened.

"It's nothing. I was here, so I helped. Isn't that what Investigation Teams are for?"

"Oh dear, but it seems like I'm missing one more ingredient for what I was making all night… A blast for fire from a Cyndaquil. Nothing else will do!"

"Aamira!" Quill ran up to her, followed by all the pokemon he had helped the previous night. They all went about talking with relatives they had been separated from when the storm started.

"Looks like you had a rough night…" Aamira said. Quill was wobbly on his feet and had bags under his eyes, but other than that didn't look too badly hurt.

"You don't look like you were in paradise either…" Quill said. Aamira could only imagine what she must look like, her hands covered in bruises from destroying the rock slide, and completely covered in mud.

"Oh, this is Nuzleaf the Herbalist! Pretty lucky he just happened to find us."

"Yea, we're always lucky for some reason. But what happened to your legs?"

"Huh?" Aamira looked at her legs. They were bandaged up from the night before. "Oh yea, I got hurt somehow when we got separated."

"You don't remember?" Nuzleaf asked. "You were half trapped under a tree when I found you."

One of the little pokemon she had been reading to the previous night was doing what looked like charades to a larger pokemon that looked a lot like it.

The larger pokemon walked over to Aamira. "Chikorita tells me you saved all the baby pokemon. When a giant tree fell you pushed them out of the way and got crushed under it yourself."

"I did that! Or… maybe I just happened to bump into them and accidentally push them out of the way?"

"Either way, you saved them." Nuzleaf said. "And you helped save my home and all the pokemon inside it in spite of your injuries."

"I didn't even notice the pain except for when I tried to go look for Quill and just now…" Aamira's knees buckled again and she fell on the ground. The younger pokemon laughed at how funny she looked.

"Alright, it's ready." Nuzleaf said after fifteen minutes of Quill heating up the bowl of berries which were smashed into some kind of dough. "I still feel guilty for going through with this, but… Thank you both again for everything."

Seedot jumped up and down trying to see what was in the bowl. "What is it, grandpa? What is it!"

"It's something really special. Mixed with an extra ingredient." After a few more minutes of Nuzleaf fiddling with whatever it was he was making, he handed Seedot a cake that was shaped like him. "Happy Birthday to my favorite grandson!"

"A birthday cake!" Seedot shouted. "Thank you, grandpa! And thank you Investigators! And that extra ingredient must be…" Seedot practically jumped into the cake and somehow ate it, seeing as how he didn't have any visible mouth. After he finished off the cake, he started glowing and turned into a Nuzleaf.

"How did that happen?" Aamira asked.

"He evolved!" Quill said. "Wow. Only a few pokemon left can evolve anymore and they have to have certain items to do so."

"I'm Nuzleaf now!" The former Seedot said. "I know we owe you a reward, but I still feel bad for everything. So, as another part of your payment and as another birthday present, could I maybe join your team?"

"Well only Bronze Rank teams can recruit new members." Quill said. "We were hoping that after your mission Noctowl would make us Bronze Rank, but—."

"Noctowl!" Aamira said. "Remember what he said? Come to Town Hall first thing every morning unless under special circumstances."

"I hope this counts…" Quill was panicking a little.

"I'll go with you!" The newly evolved Nuzleaf said. "I'll explain what happened here. You both saved lots of people!"

"So directly afterwards you left for Jungle Overgrow without letting anyone know, and you ended up getting trapped by the storm!" Alakazam snapped at them.

"Yes sir…" Quill said.

"Hold on, they helped everyone else in the storm too! There's no way of knowing what would have happened if they hadn't come." Nuzleaf told him.

"You have no say in this! If it wasn't for your grandfather's mission—."

"—All the pokemon would have been trapped in the storm and never seen again." Noctowl finished. "Mind you it was really irresponsible to run off to a place like Jungle Overgrow without letting anyone know. I'm going to have to include that in the rules… Though I think it's fit to award your team with the Bronze rank, seeing as how you were able to take charge and help everyone. That's the mark of a true Investigation Team."

"They get no punishment at all?" Alakazam said.

"I never said that. For now on, you must donate half of your money rewards to the city. That includes the reward you just got."

Quill reached gloomily into his bag and gave Noctowl 500 poke. "I suppose it could be worse."

"You sounded like you wanted us to get punished!" Aamira snapped at Alakazam.

"That's not it at all! Quill is barely a graduate and you haven't even gone to the school, so—."

"You must learn to calm yourself, Alakazam." Espeon walked up to him. "We can't hold our students back forever. Quill's technically a teacher himself now."

"Since when have you been… not overprotective of Quill? I thought you always said he was one of your prized students."

"Me…?" Quill's eyes were watering. "But… I was always the one with the lowest grades…"

"Grades? Not so important!" Espeon smiled. "You've proven you can take care of yourself. And others."

"Oh yea, and you can join our team now!" Aamira said to Nuzleaf.

"After all of this I… even if our mission somehow saved all those pokemon, I'll work as hard as I can to pay you both back!"

"I think it's time…" Alakazam said.

Noctowl nodded. He went into Town Hall and came back a few minutes later carrying a rolled up piece of paper. It was so big that Aamira and Quill both had to hold it. They unrolled it to find a giant map, though only a small part of it actually had the map on it.

"Why is such a small map on a large paper like this?" Aamira asked.

"It's a map piece!" Quill said. "Every time we prove ourselves to a different country, we get a new piece of the map! But when we get the one for our country…"

"Yes." Noctowl said. "You are now an individual Investigation Team. You can go wherever you want without any permission. You can also give yourselves missions, although we may still give you ones. Technically this puts you at a higher rank than Team Sky, but you'll also be in more danger."

"This is so cool!" Aamira said.

"Hey, that's MY line!" Quill said. "But it is! After we get to Gold Rank we can start actually working for other countries. We can come and go as we please! Of course, there's still the Silver Rank before that."

"So we can do whatever we want for missions now?" Aamira asked. "Like choose which days to do patrols and which days to do special mission at the help center and stuff like that?"

"Exactly." Noctowl said. "You can even choose which days you can take off for training or simply a mini vacation if you feel you've been over worked lately."

"Well I know what I'm going to do!" Aamira said. "I don't know anything about this world since I lost my memory, so for now on, I'm hitting the library ever morning at the crack of dawn!"

"We have a library?" Quill said. Everyone laughed. Quill blushed a little. "Hehehe… Well I said I had the lowest grades…"


	6. Chapter 6 Rival for the Messenger

Quill woke up early in the morning. Immediately he was glad that he and Aamira had taken the rest of the previous day off. The second feeling he could feel besides his own came from Aamira. It was calmer than he was used to. Quill went into Aamira's room to see what she was doing, but she wasn't there. As he went to go downstairs, he noticed the third door now in the hall with the name "Nuzleaf" on it.

On the north side of their team HQ was their new map display, which only had one map piece on it. It was still more than a lot of people had, but it seemed so empty on the big chart.

Quill remembered what Aamira had said the previous day. She said that she would go to the library every morning at the crack of dawn to learn as much as possible. 

"I've lived here for years and I didn't even know we had a library." Quill said to himself. "Where is it?"

He stared at the map as it suddenly changed to an overhead view of Vine City, which was covered in red dots. One of them was in the forest division and labeled "Library" 

Quill looked over the map in amazement as it turned back to the small map of the whole country. "Cool…" 

Quill grabbed his collection bag upon seeing that Aamira had taken hers and ran down the ladder and outside. It was pretty much a straight shot from their HQ to the forest division. In fact, the only problem was that it was all the way across town. Quill ran as fast as he could past the Pokemon Research Academy and entered the forest division, which, he realized now had a lot of shops and other buildings in it.

The library stood out a lot among all the other buildings that were made into the trees. In fact, it was the only building in Vine City made from stone bricks. Quill walked in nervously. It was pretty much the only building that he hadn't bee in. His nerves died down when he saw Dragonite talking to a pokemon who was up on a ladder organizing books into their rightful places.

Not wanting to interrupt, Quill looked around for a second. The walls were lined with shelves of books and more shelves in columns on either side of the library. In the very back there was a desk with a globe and a few more books on it. A little farther away on either side of the desk were some staircases that led up to a balcony on the top floor which had even more books on it along with some statues and other things probably borrowed from the museum. The one thing Quill noticed above all was that there weren't any torches. The whole Library was lit by giant windows which reflected off dust fragments in the air, giving the library an old, empty look to it. No doubt fire wouldn't be welcomed in the library, so the librarian probably wouldn't like him being in there. 

"Can I help you?" The pokemon on the ladder jumped down and landed on all four feet. 

"Wow…" Quill noticed the height of the jump she had landed from. "I haven't seen anyone jump like that before. Except maybe Espeon."

"Well that's good. She's my sister, you know?" She smiled sweetly. Her smile was pretty much the only resemblance that Quill could see. "Not my only sibling either. Espeon and I both hatched at the same time as five other siblings."

"So seven at the same time!" Quill had always been on good terms with Espeon, but he never knew anything about her family.

Dragonite laughed. "This library has everything in it. The museum only has the history of Investigation Teams. Since you had no doubt you wanted to be an Investigation Team member, Espeon taught you herself and directed you to the museum. There wasn't much of a point in consulting her other family members." 

"Well, that in mind, I take it you're not here to look for a book?" Espeon's sister asked. 

"Oh no, I was actually looking for my friend. She doesn't know much about Vine City, or any other city for that matter, so she wanted to start coming to the library every morning." Quill explained.

"Your Riolu friend, Aamira? Yes, she was in here a while ago. I'm afraid you just missed her. She said she was going to the lake to read." 

"Won't the books get moldy if they get wet?" 

"Not these books. Noctowl's ancestor put a special ingredient in the paper while it was being made a long time ago. I suppose I should also explain that the paper comes from other places and by now the trees used have grown back."

"Well thanks a lot for the help, uhh…" 

"Leafeon." She smiled again. "Easy way to remember our names is that all seven of us have names ending in eon." 

"Oh. Well thank you, Leafeon." 

"Come back any time!" 

Quill ran out of the forest division and in the direction of Shroud Lake. Before he did though, he noticed how the school looked in the early morning sun. Nearly every day he came to the school and saw it the same way, but never thought much about how it looked. It seemed strange now to stand there and look at it. It felt almost as if he were looking into his own past, back to a more simple time where even the chance of getting a scrape or a cut was an adventure. 

He walked inside for old time's sake. It was too early for the kids to come to school, so no one was there yet. Quill sat down at his old desk and looked around. Everything was exactly the same, except a few burn marks that were on the ceiling from when he almost burned the school down. 

"I had a feeling that you would be coming here today." Quill jumped and turned around as Espeon walked in the door. "Sorry, did I scare you?" 

"Not scared me exactly, I just wasn't expecting it." He said stubbornly. 

"Right. So what are you doing here so early? Actually, what are you doing here at all?" 

"I was looking for Aamira and wanted to stop by. I may have gone to school here just over a week ago, but it feels so much longer. Oh… but I've been wondering something. Yesterday Alakazam said I was one of your favorite students. Is that true?" 

"As a teacher I try not to pick favorites. But you're different. Everyone else was so confident in becoming whatever they wanted to be. The problem with that is they expect things to just happen and don't work as hard. You were always so quiet, yet you always had this determined side to you that would never give up. Or… more like stubborn." 

Quill couldn't stop himself from laughing. 

"There is another reason though." Espeon said quietly. "I have a son who's a lot like you. In fact, he's pretty close to your age."

"Huh? I didn't know that. How come I've never met him?" Quill asked.

"It's a little complicated. But there are some similarities I couldn't help noticing between the two of you." 

"Did he want to become an Investigation Team member?" 

"Yes. And he did. From what I hear, he and his team are constantly putting themselves in danger for the good of others. In fact one of his teammates is a lot like Aamira." 

"So what's the team's name? Have I ever heard of them?" 

"The name probably wouldn't mean anything to you. They're not really famous yet." Her ears drooped. "I sure miss him… Something happened and… let's just say I haven't seen as much of him as I should lately."

"Well I'm sure things will get better." Quill said in a happy tone to make Espeon feel better.

"I hope so. The only problem is things always get better, but they have to get worse first." 

"I was going to go find Aamira… Would you want to come too?" 

Espeon's ears perked up. "Oh, no that's fine. I have students coming in soon." She smiled. "I'm sorry to have unloaded all of that on you. You should go ahead." 

Quill looked down guiltily. He felt like he made Espeon think he didn't want to be there and like he didn't even care about her story.

"Don't worry." She said softly as if reading his mind. "I know what you meant. You both have jobs now as Investigators. If I felt so attached to all of my students they would never leave."

Quill laughed a little. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." Quill got up to leave, feeling a little better now that he knew for sure Espeon understood. 

"Okay." Espeon said as she walked around to her desk and adopted a more teacher-like voice. "And don't forget that project's due tomorrow!" 

Quill jumped and turned around. "What!" 

Espeon laughed. "I made you jump!" 

Quill looked at her sarcastically. "Haha. Very funny…" 

Quill didn't even see Aamira at first. The fog was always thicker in the mornings. Aside from that, Aamira was sitting on the opposite side of the lake. Quill ran around and saw that she was reading a book on famous Investigation Teams to a group of pokemon. None of them looked like city pokemon. Some of them even had a hazed look that dungeon pokemon had when the fog turned them back to normal. 

"Aamira! I've been looking for you." Quill said. All the pokemon gathered around Aamira, and even some that were up in the tree she was sitting against, all scattered in different directions. "Oh, sorry about that."

"It's no big deal. I, for one, am starting to love Investigation Teams and the whole history of them, but I think they were all getting bored." She closed the book and sat it on a pile with five others. 

"Did you read all of those?" Quill asked. 

"I guess I'm a speed reader. I hope I wasn't one of those lonely humans that just sat in the library all day and read." Aamira looked up at the sun which was barely visible through the fog. "Looks like it's about time for us to go anyway." She took a second to pack up all the books and followed Quill to Town Hall like every other morning. 

Only one other team was there. It was Team Sky. 

"Hey, hey! Aamira and Quill!" Aipom shouted in her usual cheerful tone. "Anything happen lately?" 

"Well two days ago we got stuck in a storm and ended up rescuing a bunch of forest pokemon in Jungle Overgrow, actually got separated, unknowingly delivered some ingrediants for a birthday cake, and got the Bronze Rank and became an independent Investigation Team." Quill said really fast, which would have confused most people. 

Mankey laughed. "I feel so sorry for you two!" 

"Why's that?" Aamira asked. 

"An individual Investigation Team?" Mankey laughed again. "They get all the hard jobs! It becomes so difficult you don't even rank up as fast. Plus you have to learn how to do a load of extra jobs. Most teams put that off until right before they become Gold Rank. You would have to be crazy to accept it at Bronze Rank." 

"Well maybe that just means we could become better than any of those teams. Team Overgrow was made an individual team pretty much right after the team started." Quill said.

"Yea and a few hundred years ago all Investigation Teams had a full map of the world and could do practically whatever they wanted until different countries started feuding over the power of their teams. When the teams divided into different countries they made it so most teams would only work for those countries and there wouldn't be too great a shift in power. So basically that just means we're really trustworthy." Everyone stared at Aamira. "What?" 

"I thought you lost your memory and couldn't remember anything." Aipom said. 

"She's a speed reader." Quill said flatly. "Oh and you forgot the death or Sir Valor." 

Aamira pulled out the book she had been reading at Shroud Lake and turned towards the back. "Oh, here it is. Wow, this guy was pretty overconfident. He was a Charizard who foolishly sought out, and single handedly battled with Kyogre and was never seen since. They don't even put where he found Kyogre. No one must want a repeat of that." 

"I forget. What's a Kyogre again?" Quill asked. 

"It's the legendary pokemon that raised the oceans in its conflict with its rival Groudon, who was the pokemon that raised the land. Then a pokemon named Rayquaza appeared and stopped them from fighting and the trio fell into a long sleep." 

"Exactly how many books are you reading!" Mankey said angrily. 

"Actually I sometimes remember some things about legendary pokemon if someone mentions them. I don't know why. It doesn't work with any other pokemon." 

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous of Aamira." Quill said. It was strange since they were always top in the class.

"Jealous! Ha!" Aipom and Mankey both turned their back to them angrily.

Quill and Aamira looked at each other confused for a moment then looked around. The other Investigation Teams had arrived and were all looking at them. Quill and Aamira both turned to some laughter they heard behind them. To their surprise, it was Team Overgrow!

"You kids are always full of surprises. I see it every year." Venusaur nodded thoughtfully. "You get yourselves into a little competition and the next thing you end up saving your hero's homeland." 

Quill looked at Venusaur in surprise. "You mean you're from Jungle Overgrow?" 

"That's a bit obvious." Aamira said. "After all they are Team Overgrow." 

Venusaur laughed. "Aye, it's plainly obvious isn't it?" The slight accent in his voice was obvious for the first time. "Well you know us. I'm Venusaur and this is Sceptile." 

Sceptile was leaning against a tree. He turned to Aamira and Quill and nodded. 

"He doesn't talk much, except to clients, but I always feel sorry for the pokemon that run into him in the dungeons. And when he does talk, his wisdom is so eccentric it can makes Noctowl's head spin." 

Sceptile turned to them again. "Team Sleuth?" His voice made Aamira shiver. 

"That's us." Quill said.

Sceptile turned away again and closed his eyes to give him a look that made him seem like he was in deep thought.

Quill Straightened up, suddenly shocked. "Aamira!"

Aamira jumped. "What?"

Quill turned away from her angrily. "Oh, it's nothing." 

Noctowl finally came out. He had the same angry look to him that he always did and look in his eyes was as serious as ever. He went about his usual routine of assigning missions to all the teams. Afterwards, he announced that Team Sleuth was a new individual team. 

"Now in closing, the troubles we've been facing have become more serious in recent times. With our new individual team, I only hope that they will be able to figure out what to do in any situation. Remember this: it's fifteen percent smarts, six percent talent, and eighty nine percent heart. Just put in a full one hundred and ten percent every day and you'll have no problem. Dismissed." All the pokemon left at the end of Noctowl's daily speech. "Now Team Sleuth, I have a mission for you two. For you to get to know about the other cities in our country, today you'll be escorted by Team Overgrow to all the different cities on messenger duty."

"Messenger duty?" Quill said. "I've never heard of that before." 

"Ah, I remember our first time." Venusaur said. "It got pretty hectic, didn't it? A forest fire right in the middle of our delivery. Remember that, Sceptile?" 

Sceptile nodded.

Quill gulped. "That really happened? Of course you were probably able to stop it, but I don't know if we could…"

"Well that's why I'm sending you with Team Overgrow. Now, you'll just need to exchange your collection bags for these." Noctowl handed both Aamira and Quill a blue bag with a brown zigzag pattern on the top. "Mail Bags. Investigation Teams have become one of the best ways to deliver messages because they're so reliable. The only thing is that you must never read a message given to you unless the one giving or receiving the message says it's okay. Oh, and some times they'll ask you to tell someone a message instead of delivering a written message. In that case under no circumstances are you ever to tell anyone the message except the person it's for. Got all of that so far?" 

"Yes sir!" Aamira and Quill saluted. 

"Good. Now this is also a good way to make some extra money. Depending on the message or item being delivered, you'll be given certain amounts of money as payment. Chain letters are becoming really popular and the more people you send it to, the more money you'll get every time."

"Oi! Chain letters!" Venusaur groaned. "Always hated those, but they sure pay a lot." 

"Now that you'll be working together, I finally have a chance to ask you both something." Noctowl said.

"Aamira?" Sceptile said without turning his head or opening his eyes. "Not as she appears, yes?"

Noctowl sighed. "Yes. Aamira, do you mind me telling them? They've been all over the world and may know something." 

"Oh, not at all!" Aamira said quickly. "I mean, Sceptile could already tell I was different, right?"

"You're new." Sceptile said simply. 

"He means no one's ever seen you around here before a week ago. No one even knows where you're from." Venusaur explained. "Maybe a spy from a different country? Wouldn't be the first time. You do seem to have a lot of good luck." 

"What? No!" Aamira felt unsure though. "I mean… I don't know…" 

"A while ago Quill found Aamira unconscious by Shroud Lake. When she came to, she couldn't remember anything except for once being a human." Noctowl Explained. 

Sceptile's eyes flew open and he jumped up. "IMPOSSIBLE!" 

Everyone looked at Sceptile, slightly confused and astonished. Sceptile looked between all of them before calming down and leaning back against the tree with his eyes closed again.

Venusaur cleared his throat. "We both love this country, and every other for that matter. Any hint at all of an uprising of a rival country sets Sceptile off like that. He thought you were lying. That it was all an act. But apparently he thought of something else that changed his mind." 

"And what would that be?" Noctowl asked. 

Sceptile didn't move at all. "She's… a kid. Quill's involved." 

"What did he mean by that?" Quill asked.

"He thinks you're more a part of this than you appear. You found her by Shroud Lake, yes? But is there anything else?" Venusaur asked.

"Yea. For some reason I can feel Aamira's emotions, but no one else can. And she's not doing it on purpose. If she was she would have stopped; she hates it when I accidentally read her mind."

"Not unusual." 

"Sceptile's right." Venusaur said. "Some Riolu have a special aura that only matches up to a person with similar aura. So this person is the only one that can feel their emotions when it would normally be everyone. Riolu's with this aura aren't unusual. It's nothing strange about Aamira, it's something special about you, Quill." 

"About me?" Quill looked confused. "But I don't know anything. How could I have something to do with Aamira's turning into a pokemon?" 

Sceptile didn't say anything for a while, so eventually, they stopped waiting. 

"I'm not sure, and obviously Sceptile isn't either. It's just a strange coincidence, perhaps. Either way we've never heard of a human turning into a pokemon. I'm sorry we couldn't help more than this." 

Aamira looked through the three letters that Noctowl had given them to start with. "Looks like first we're heading to Leaf Town. Wait, are all the cities named after plants?"

"Well what do you expect?" Quill asked. "This is Sylva, the forest country. There are four other cities except for Leaf Town. Pedal Village, the smallest, Leaf town, Miracle City, and Treetop Town, which most people just call Treetop. We're lucky. We live in the capitol. Anyone from other cities that want to become an Investigation Team have to go all the way to Vine City every morning, and of course they still live in whatever city they come from, so they have to do that every morning until they become an Investigation Team, then they can stay at home and do missions there." 

"Sounds like a lot of work just to become an Investigation Team member." 

Sceptile grunted. "How could you, a simpleminded outlander possibly comprehend the relevance of our foreign culture?" 

"Uhh…" 

"He said you can't understand how important Investigation Teams are to us." Venusaur said. 

"And I think he also called you a simpleminded outlander." Quill said. 

"Simpleminded?" Aamira shouted. "I may have forgotten everything I used to know, but that doesn't make me stupid or anything."

"Calm down, Aamira." Venusaur said. "As long as outsiders stay in their own territories we're fine, but when one suddenly shows up in our countries capitol, it's always a surprise. It's even worse if they show up unannounced, no matter how they got there. If I'm right, Sceptile thinks you're worse just because of what you used to be."

"That's hardly fair." 

"Go home. When you can. It's for the best." Sceptile said simply and walked out ahead. 

"Why does he hate me so much?" Aamira asked. "I understand he doesn't like outsiders, but doesn't he know I would go home if I could?" 

"I don't know." Venusaur said. "I don't think he hates you though, I think he just needs time to accept you're as much a citizen of Sylva as any of us. In a way, you can say you were born here. You came here under similar conditions as Quill, and you can't leave for the same reason. Sceptile doesn't mind Quill much, but maybe just because you were once human. Whatever the reason, he's right. You don't belong here, so you have to try to go home as soon as possible." 

Aamira stared at the ground. She felt more like an outside than ever. 

Quill's eyes started watering. "Could you please stop! I can tell how Aamira feels, remember? No one should have to feel like this!" Quill wiped the tears from his eyes. 

"Quill, I'm sorry! Maybe it's normal for me to feel this way, but you never should have! Maybe they're right. I should go home as soon as I can." 

"You don't even know where home is. You don't even know what it was like, or what you were like. Whatever you decide it doesn't matter to me, but you can stay in Vine City as long as you want!"

Aamira finally calmed down. This was one good thing about Quill being able to feel her emotions; he understood her better than anyone else could hope to, and he could always find out why she felt a certain way. Or was it a good thing? Quill had to suffer as much as Aamira, and when they were happy, Aamira's thoughts always suddenly turned to her forgotten life as a human. 

Sceptile stopped in front of them and turned his head back to Aamira. "You're a Vine City Investigator. Don't forget that at least." 

"I think… I just got through to him." Aamira said quietly to no one in particular. 

The flames on Quills back burst into life for a few short seconds. "Aamira!" 

"What?" 

"You're… I can't believe I'm the one that has to say this, but… you're acting like a little kid!" Quill pulled Aamira's arm so that she would lead down closer to him and whispered in her ear. "And it's not like he's exactly your age either." 

Aamira's face turned red. 

Venusaur laughed. "Ah I just love the little kids. Eh, Sceptile, isn't that 'special mission' of ours tomorrow?"

"Aye." Sceptile closed his eyes and smiled, as if trying to imagine what his mission will be like. Aamira tried to ignore it.

"Ah, Leaf town, dead ahead! Been a while, eh Sceptile? Definitely beats the north! Nice mild weather, green everywhere, it's nothing like Glacies, that's for sure. Only bug types live in this city. It's pretty small as far as most cities go. The only city smaller is Pedal Village. Although they do have a simpler way of life and can make money easily with their exports of Combee honey. Yep, pretty much the whole society revolves around their honey." 

Five grey pokemon with orange wings flew up to them and landed on Venusaur's giant flower. 

"Oi! Get off of there!" Venusaur shook his flower to try to knock them off. They flew off for a moment, but landed as soon as Venusaur stopped shaking. "Of course, the Mothim are a bit annoying. To me anyway. Apparently my flower smells and looks like the kind the Combee use to make honey." 

Aamira and Quill laughed as more Mothim started swarming around him. Soon even the Combee were coming and trying to get the nectar out of his flower. 

Venusaur was laughing and stomping around. Quill, Aamira, and Sceptile all took cover behind some bushes. "Stop it! That tickles!" Venusaur started thrashing around harder than before. "Oi! Sorry about this, but…" An orange powder flew out of Venusaur's powder and all the pokemon that were in his flower flew out and fell to the ground with a shocked expression.

Venusaur walked up to one of the Mothim. "Sorry about the Stun Spore, but I'm really ticklish. That's what happens when someone tries crawling around on my flower. It's a bit different from the ones Combee make their honey from, you know?" 

"Right… My mistake…" Mothim couldn't move. 

Aamira went through the letters again. "It looks like the letter for this town is for someone named Vespiquen. Then after that we have to go to Pedal Village and Treetop." 

"None for Miracle City, eh?" Venusaur said. "Fine by me, I never really cared about that city much. Vespiquen is pretty picky though. She doesn't want to talk to just anyone." 

"Yea, but look who's talking!" Quill said. "You're both famous! Why wouldn't she listen?" 

"She prefers rare, exotic, and powerful looking pokemon who—." Venusaur stopped before he said anything else and everyone looked at Aamira. 

One of Aamira's ears twitched. "Why do I always get stuck with doing these things? We're just delivering the mail!" 

"Exactly, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?" Quill looked At Sceptile and Venusaur. Neither of them said anything. 

Aamira looked around at all three of them with her mouth hanging opened. "This won't end well…" 

A Combee who looked more majestic than most flew up to Vespiquen who was reading through some receipts and order forms. "Leader! Some people are outside requesting an audience with you." 

"Not now, I'm busy. The world's thrown into chaos and suddenly no one has time for honey anymore." Vespiquen looked back over the order forms again. "Profits are way down…"

"They have a Riolu with them." 

Vespiquen dropped everything she was holing and turned to Combee. "Riolu? Why didn't you say so? Well? Where does it come from? What does it want?" 

"I'm not sure where she's from, but she and the accompanying party said they have a message for you. They each have mailbags." 

"I see. So they must be an Investigation Team from either Miracle or Vine. Well if it's for a message I suppose I could stop to greet our visitors." Vespiquen flew over to the trap door that didn't have a ladder and flew down and through the winding corridors of her amber castle. 

Out in the foyer were four pokemon, a Venusaur, Sceptile, Cyndaquil, and Riolu. Vespiquen tried to stay calm, but her heart was beating violently fast. She flew in front of Aamira and bowed respectfully. "And to what do I owe this visit?" She asked. 

Aamira bowed back to Vespiquen, though she didn't really know why. "We come with a message from Ember City." They had practiced everything Aamira was supposed to say so not to offend Vespiquen. Aamira took the letter out of her Mail Bag and offered it to Vespiquen. 

Vespiquen went to take the letter and instead grabbed Aamira by the arm. 

"Wh-What are you doing?" Aamira stammered. 

Vespiquen looked at Aamira's arm for a second, completely oblivious of her struggling. "Hmm… Pity." Vespiquen let go of Aamira's arm causing her to fall backwards. "I always imagined Riolu to look more impressive. More… powerful. You're practically all skin and bones. No muscles at all. What kind of fighting type are you?" 

"I'm not that weak!" Aamira said as she got up off the ground. 

"You couldn't even break free from my grip and I usually admire fighting types for their strength." She said crossly. "I refuse to accept anything from you unless you prove how strong you are." 

"And how do I do that?" Aamira asked nervously. 

Vespiquen flew to the back of the foyer and sat in a throne-like chair. A few moments of waiting in an awkward silence and a Machop came out of another room. 

"A new challenger?" He said excitedly. He spotted Aamira immediately out of the group. "Riolu? Never battled that sort before." He laughed in a sinister way. "Doesn't look so tough." 

"Battle my friend Machop here and if you come out victorious, or at least breathing, I'll acknowledge your strength." Vespiquen explained. 

Something didn't feel right to Aamira. She looked around closer and her eye was caught by a strange pattern on the floor. It wasn't just a Foyer, it was a battle field. So this is what Vespiquen did for her amusement. Aamira took her place at one end, and Machop took his at the other end. 

"Alright, the rules are simple. No attacks or weapons. No eye poking or tail pulling. Use only martial arts moves. The first one to hit the ground for five second loses." 

Machop laughed similar to the way he did earlier. "I've never battled a girl either. Don't worry, Amber Queen, I'll try not to end this too quickly." 

"What?" Aamira clenched her fists. 

"Not even well disciplined…" Vespiquen said under her breath. "Alright, let the battle begin!" 

Aamira rushed towards Machop. Machop stayed completely still and didn't look nervous in the least. Aamira went to punch him, but Machop ducked and punched her in the stomach, knocking her a few feet back onto the ground. 

Machop laughed again. "I could expect no less of a girl. Or maybe Riolu really aren't as strong as their reputation says they are." 

A group of Combee had gathered without anyone noticing. They all cheered as Aamira got up. She looked angrier than before. Aside from a smirk on Machop's face, he was completely expressionless. 

"I'm surprised you can even get up after that. One more punch to the stomach should do it, I think." Machop smirked again and ran towards Aamira. 

Aamira stood completely still the way Machop did earlier. Machop stopped right in front of her, sure she was up so something. Aamira, knowing nothing about martial arts, improvised and tried to kick at him, but Machop caught her leg and threw her over him and onto the ground.

Aamira shook her head to get rid of the shock from the blow and stood up facing Machop.

He looked as smug as ever. "Come on! I'm going easy on you!" 

Aamira didn't say anything. Just from two blows she was already tired and cringing in pain. She didn't care about the mission anymore. She just wanted all this insanity to end. 

Machop walked towards her slowly. Across the foyer Quill cringed in fear. It was the first time Aamira was so scared. 

"I'll finish this quickly and put you out of your misery." Something in his voice told Aamira that he really meant it. 

Machop pulled his leg back to aim a kick at Aamira. Aamira closed her eyes, unable to move or even think of anything else to do. She heard either his leg or his foot make contact with something, but didn't feel any pain. Aamira opened her eyes and saw a familiar green pokemon standing in front of her. It was Sceptile. He had caught Machop's leg. Weariness finally got to Aamira and she fell forward on the ground. 

Vespiquen flew towards Sceptile angrily. "No interfering! Why would you interrupt?" 

Sceptile glared at her. "Amber Queen… So they call you. Nothing but a spoiled princess." 

Vespiquen looked at him incredulously. "What did you say to me?" 

"You heard me. Next time you want help from either Team Sleuth or Team Overgrow, we expect it to be a life or death situation to pay back for this." The whole time Sceptile hadn't let go of Machop. He did now only when he started shouting in pain from the strength of Sceptile's grip.

"Of course you know you won't be getting your reward now." Vespiquen's anger was so much her vision shook and her breathing was as uneven as Aamira's. 

Sceptile handed Vespiquen her message. She snatched it from him angrily. Sceptile picked up Aamira and walked out of the castle with Venusaur and Quill following silently.

Vespiquen watched them angrily as they left. No one had ever tried to stand up to her before. She crushed the message from Ember City in her hand and stopped when she realized what she was doing 

"Machop…" She said quietly. 

Machop nodded. "I know." He ran out of the door after Team Sleuth and Team Overgrow. Obviously Sceptile's words had gotten to him too. For the first time that day, the smug grin on his face was gone. 

A hypnotic pounding had quickly lulled Aamira to sleep. Only the absence of sound a while later was what finally woke her up. 

"Oi, you're awake!" Venusaur said. He had been carrying Aamira on his head the whole time. The pounding, Aamira figured, must have been the sound of his footsteps. "Good timing too. Well, it's your choice. Go home or finish the deliveries?" 

"Of course we're going to finish the deliveries." She sounded slightly angry. "We're not going back empty handed. And it's not even noon." 

"You sure?" he asked. "This here is the fork in the road between Vine and Treetop. There's no going back after we decide which way to go. And I'm a bit concerned too. Machop might have been small, but he was powerful. I'm afraid he might have given you some serious internal injuries or at least broke a few bones."

"I'M FINE!" She snapped at him. Quill and Sceptile who had been walking in front of them turned around. "Really… I feel fine…" Aamira curled up on his head again and fell back to sleep. 

"What's wrong with her?" Quill asked Sceptile as they started walking again. "I've never seen Aamira get like this, especially towards people she likes." 

"Pride…" Sceptile said simply. "Aamira's more a pokemon than she thinks." 

"Sceptile's right." Venusaur said. "I doubt she'll lose any determination she gets from this until she defeats Machop. To do that, she'll need someone to teach her how to fight like a Riolu and… well…"

"Who is there to teach her?" Quill finished for him.


	7. Chapter 7 Aamira's Rage

While they started with only one letter for Treetop, that soon changed when they found out it was a chain letter. Soon the combined team of Team Sleuth and Team Overgrow were running around all over. 

The name of Treetop Town was really appropriate. The whole city was high in the trees. The strange species of trees somehow naturally grew in a way that their branches fused together making solid floors they could walk on. In gaps where the trees were too far apart for branches to combine, vine swings and bridges were made to cross. The houses were made similarly to the way the ones in Vine City were made. Each was made inside the trees somehow without harming the trees. 

"Amazing how strong these branches are, eh?" Venusaur said to Quill when the teams joined up again. "It's not even hard for me to get up here." 

"Yea, I doubt I would even be able to burn through these branches." Quill stomped on the branch floor, which didn't even move the way tree branches usually did. I kind of like this town. 

"Over here! Messengers!" A Staravia on another branch-platform called to them while waving her wing. She flew over to them and handed Sceptile a letter. "This is for my pen pal in the Pedal Village. Would you four be so kind to deliver it?" 

"Sure, we were heading that way soon anyway." Quill smiled awkwardly. "We would have probably already been there. I guess it's a good thing for you that we got held up with all these chain letters." 

Staravia laughed. "Yes, those chain letters are a pain. I never send them to anyone, even if I'm sent one first." Staravia flew off. 

"So what kind of place is the Pedal Village?" Quill asked. 

"That city runs the newspaper!" Venusaur said. "A pretty good one too. They give only the facts, whether people like it or not. The paper is made from a flower-weed that usually invades the city during the spring and will suck the life out of all the other plants unless they're weeded. The city itself… can't really be recognized as a city. At first glance it's just a field of flowers. All the houses in the Pedal Village are underground and hidden by the flowers. People like to spend time outside in the sun though, so deliveries are fairly easy." 

Aamira, who had been sitting on Venusaur's head the whole time since she couldn't walk after a battle with a Machop, looked up for the first time when she saw the clearing in the forest that was covered in flowers. 

"Wow, it's definitely the smallest city in Silva, but you really can't tell it's a city at all." Quill said. 

Aamira tried to get off of Venusaur on her own, which was almost impossible because of how tall he was compared to her, but somehow she managed. 

"Sure you don't need any help?" Venusaur asked her. 

"I'm fine." In spite of her words, she swayed on her feet a little. Aamira spotted a tree branch a few feet away and picked it up to use it to support herself like a cane. 

The town was filled with lots of pokemon. Most of them were normal and grass types, although there were a few Pichu running around also. There were Buneary, Eevee, Starly, Glameow, Bidoof, Budew, Roselia, Bellosom, Bulbasaur, Hoppip, Skiploom, Igglybuff and Jigglypuff. 

At the sight of their blue messenger bags, a trio of pokemon ran up to them. An Igglybuff, a Budew, and a Buneary all with eager expressions. 

"I got a letter for Vine City!" The Igglybuff said while trying to raise the letter that was almost as big as himself over his head. 

"I'll take that for you." Quill took Igglybuff's letter and put it in his bag. "Want to be an Investigation Team member? 

"Yea! Investigation Teams are so cool!" he said. 

Quill pulled out the letter from Staravia. "Okay, anyone have a pen pal from Treetop?" 

"That's mine! That's mine!" The Buneary sang. "Staravia was my friend before moving to Treetop! Now we send each other letters." She opened up the letter and her eyes scanned over it so quickly her eyes were a blur. "Oh! She's going to come visit next week!" 

"Uhh… I have a letter too." Budew handed them a letter with an important looking seal on it. "It's from Hoothoot, the leader of this town to Hoothoot the leader of Miracle. He says it's urgent. For a reward you get a free subscription to our newspaper. You see in the woods there where all the Delibird are flying in and out? That's where the newspaper is made and it's also along the way to Miracle City." 

"Oi! A newspaper subscription? That usually costs a bit, doesn't it? Exactly how important is this message?" Venusaur asked. 

"I don't know. I'm just telling you what Hoothoot told me. He says it's urgent and has to go straight to Hoothoot in Miracle City. But he said you would have a letter for him if you were the reliable messengers we need."

"Oh, right." Aamira pulled the letter out of her bag. "Yep, this is for Hoothoot alright." 

"Great! I'll take the letter to Hoothoot for you, and you get the newspaper subscription!" Budew reached for the letter but Aamira snatched it away. 

"No way. If this really is as urgent as you say, we're taking it to Hoothoot ourselves." She said.

"Uhh… alright, but he gets a little…" Budew cringed. "He's a bit… Well are you sure you want to do this?"

Aamira looked around uncertainly, but Quill spoke up. "It's the code of the messengers. We can't give anyone a message unless it's for them." 

"Well… alright, but don't say I didn't warn you. Hoothoot's also the leader of the newspaper company. I would have mentioned it, but…" Budew cringed again. "Well, just follow me." 

Quill and Aamira looked uncertainly at each other, but followed. Team Overgrow followed closely behind. Budew led them into the forest. The whole way there, Quill was watching the sky, which was swarming with Delibird and some other pokemon that were hard to make out through all of the chaos. Aamira had to concentrate on walking with the improvised cane and wasn't able to look up at all of the pokemon. 

After a few minutes that didn't matter though. Tons of reporters were running in various directions to different cities. 

One reporter in particular, a Sandslash, stopped in front of them. "Excuse me messengers, can I get a moment?" 

"Not particularly picky, are they?" Aamira whispered to Quill. 

"They're only supposed to get as many stories as possible and publish the most exciting or important stories later for the paper." Quill explained. 

Sandslash snapped a picture of them. "Now could you tell me where you're going this fine evening?" 

"We're heading to meet Hoothoot to give him a message." Quill said. 

"Oh, an important message?" She asked eagerly while righting everything down on a notepad. 

"We're not supposed to say anything else. You know how it is being a messenger. I suspect anyone on the newspaper has a similar job." Aamira said. 

"Oh, right, right." Sandslash smiled and continued writing. "And you would consider yourselves reliable messengers?"

"Well… this is only our first time, truthfully." Quill admitted. "But we've been doing well so far." 

"I see…" Sandslash jotted down some more notes and looked up at Aamira who was still pretty badly hurt. "And for a team who had everything going well, how could you have gotten that badly hurt?"

Aamira suddenly shut everyone out and stared into space.

"We're not really up for talking about that, but if any fighting types are willing to take on an apprentice, I'm sure she would like that." Quill said awkwardly.

"Ah, I see." Sandslash jotted down some more notes. "And you would be Team Sleuth, right?"

"Huh? Yea, how did you know?" Quill said. 

"I wrote a story about you two a while ago, but you have to get a newspaper subscription to read about it. It's nothing big. Actually I just mentioned the team name in a story." Sandslash put the notepad back in her bag and snapped another picture of them and ran off.

"We were in the news and didn't even know about it…" Quill said as if in a trance. 

"So what?" Aamira said. "Not that it was a big thing. If it was we would be famous by now."

"What?" Quill snapped at her. 

"Calm down. We read the paper every week and we've never read a story with your team's name in it. It's probably new." 

"Well come on before more interviewers show up." Budew said, once again taking the lead. 

Everyone followed after Budew except for Aamira. The strength that was still left in her legs failed her and she collapsed on the ground still holding the staff. Venusaur ran back, picked Aamira up with his vines, and put her back on his head. 

The building where the newspapers were made was a giant, dead, hollowed out tree. It was easily the largest tree in the forest, second only to the academy back in vine city. All the branches were gone except for a couple at the top of the tree. There wasn't any bark left on the tree. Though it seemed like a weird idea at first, Quill realized they must have used parts of the building itself to make the paper for the newspaper before the weeds started infesting the city

.

"Through here." Budew led them through the lobby of the building to an elevator on the other side of the room. Outside the elevator was something like a windmill except smaller. In front of the windmill was a Staraptor. 

"Top floor." Budew said to Staraptor. 

"Aye, aye!" Staraptor saluted and used Whirlwind on the windmill. 

The elevator slowly started to rise. A few minutes later they arrived on the top floor. There was a purple colored pokemon pacing around in front of some other pokemon who were all typing on some type writers. 

"How's that story on the Wurmple hero coming?" She asked one of the pokemon. 

"Almost done, Chief!" The pokemon replied. 

"Good. Skorupi, hurry up with the museum article, I want that done yesterday! You understand?" 

"Yes, Chief!" Skorupi saluted and went back to typing. 

The purple colored pokemon stopped in the center of the room in front of everyone. "Alright, pokemon! More news than ever has been coming in recently. Needless to say, we've got to work harder than ever. These deadlines have to be met and our readers need to be told both what they want and need to hear. Tell it like it is, and type other stories of every day life." 

"Yes, Chief!" All the pokemon saluted. 

"And none of that sloppy last minute stuff! Stories of heroes, stories of tragedies, stories of people living in every day life, it doesn't matter. All must be top quality!" 

"Yes, Chief!" All the pokemon saluted again. 

"Chief Hoothoot!" Budew hopped in front of the purple pokemon. "I've brought the messengers!" 

"Ah! Excellent! Excellent!" she said kindly. 

"I don't get it." Quill said. "You were acting like Hoothoot was a really mean or picky pokemon, but she seems really nice." 

Hoothoot laughed. "Sorry about that, but I had to test you're dependency." Hoothoot took the letter from Quill. "You see? It was a test." She opened the letter and showed it to them: 

"If the messengers deliver this message themselves, they are to be trusted. –Hoothoot." 

"It was a test?" Quill said. "And I'm guessing this letter is a fake, too?" 

"Yep. It was to make you more curious to see if you would fall for it and open one of the letters. Actually that one's for you!" 

"Huh?" Quill opened the letter. "Oh! It's the newspaper subscription!" Quill laughed. "I didn't see that coming!" 

"I did…" Aamira said flatly. 

Quill sighed. 

"Well anyway, here's the real letter. Since you've proven yourselves, I need you to take this to my brother who lives in Miracle City. Don't give it to anyone else! You'll recognize him easily enough. Me, my sister, and my two brothers make up the Rainbow Quads! We're all different colors. My brother in Miracle City is blue. Most Hoothoot are brown so him and any of our siblings stick out like a sore thumb!"

"We won't let you down!" Quill saluted. "Oh, but about the subscription…"

"Don't worry about it. You're already registered. For now on a Delibird will come to your Treehouse and leave a newspaper once a week. One just came out today." Hoothoot grabbed one of the newest newspapers and handed it to Quill. "Take this one with you. It's a long walk to Miracle from here." 

"Get over it!" Sceptile snapped at Aamira. No one was expecting it, since he hadn't said anything since Leaf Town. 

Aamira flinched, but didn't say anything. 

"Fine then. We both know the solution to this. Find you a teacher." 

"But I thought Riolu could only be trained by a Lucario." Quill said. 

"Aye, but there's not a lot of them left is there?" Sceptile closed his eyes, but didn't stop walking. 

"Oh, honestly Sceptile!" Venusaur said. 

"Suggestions?" Sceptile asked. 

"Okay, so I don't have any better ideas, but still! We don't have time!" 

"We're individuals. I can take an apprentice." 

Aamira looked up. "What?" 

Sceptile stopped and looked over at his shoulder at Aamira. "Apprentice." 

"Are you serious?" Aamira asked. 

Sceptile shrugged and continued walking. 

"Ah, nothing like teaching the next generation of Investigators… But Sceptile! A full on apprentice! There will be times we have to leave and Aamira and Quill wouldn't be able to come with us." 

"She can train." 

"That's true… She could always just practice what you've taught her while we're away. Aamira, you'd have to be really dedicated though." 

"I'll do it!" She said excitedly. 

Quill suppressed a groan. The feelings Aamira was having for Sceptile earlier were even stronger now, and Quill felt ever bit of it. 

"Here, you can read this on the way there. I don't think you can walk yet." Venusaur handed Aamira the newspaper with his vines. 

Aamira scanned through the news stories quickly now that her usual spirit was back. Quill had completely forgotten Aamira was a speed reader, but was now reminded of it by the rapidly changing emotions of Aamira from every story she read. 

"Hey, they mentioned our Jungle Overgrow mission. They didn't even mention us. Nuzleaf the Herbalist took all the credit. It says, 'It started out as just a simple task of finding ingrediants for his Grandson's special birthday cake and ended up playing a big part in the rescue of the forest pokemon from one of the worst storms in Sylvan history.' Yep, it's all about him. Figures…" 

"People aren't supposed to know about the missions that led to someone becoming an individual team. If they did they might try to repeat whatever they did, possibly even cheat, and people could get hurt. Don't take it harshly though." Venusaur explained. 

"Didn't Sandslash say something about our team being mentioned in the paper?" Quill asked. 

"I can look, but I haven't seen anything yet." Aamira turned back to the paper and started skimming through it. "Oh, I just saw it, where was it. Oh, here it is." Aamira shook, causing Venusaur to falter in surprise and stop in his tracks. 

"Everything alright?" Venusaur asked. 

"No… Not at all…" Aamira read them the article she found in the newspaper. "'Largest breakout in Sylvan history. A huge breakout of Sylva's prison occurred last night, involving the escape of over twenty outlaws. All of them are more than just common thieves and it is believed that the breakout was an organized and well planned escape. The most likely suspect to have causes the escape is a mastermind outlaw who was captured only a little more than a week prior to the breakout. Though guards were suspicious at the beginning, since he was such a highly regarded outlaw and he happened to be taken down on a new Investigation Team's first mission, having been there for so long, they let their guard down right before the breakout. Charmeleon, the world renowned outlaw, shouldn't have been taken down so easily by the new Investigation Team, Team Sleuth. Ironically enough, eyewitnesses say that it appeared that one of the team members seemed to be taking sides with Charmeleon prior to his escape and the team also happened to be taking the day off on the day of the breakout. Rumors have been going around that an infiltrator might have slipped into Sylva, and now some people are beginning to think about who it might be.'" 

"Oi! Sure they will now if you wrote it in the paper, you half-witted reporters!" Venusaur shouted angrily. 

"Aye…" Sceptile said quietly. 

"Hold on, there's more. 'Some people, on the other hand, believe that Charmeleon had just used Team Sleuth as pawns to infiltrate the prison and break out other convicts from the inside. 'I didn't suspect a thing when he first came in.' Officer Arcanine told the reporter. 'In fact, when he came in, all he would ever say in his sleep was, "I'll get that Riolu for this!" He kept everyone else in the prison awake all night with his ranting. We all thought he was surely going insane.' Pokemon in the area, however, say that it might not have been Charmeleon at all, but a mysterious duo of pokemon who were sneaking around the area that night. While no clear pictures were taken, Smeargle, who was out on a nighttime walk said, 'I'm an expert on shapes, colors, and anything like that. Though I didn't get a clear look at them, it most definitely wasn't Team Sleuth.' Either way, anyone involved with recent events would know that two or more people would suggest a conspiracy. Could it be another country conspiring against Sylva? Or maybe it was just a clever plan made up by Charmeleon? Keep an eye out for future articles that may contain more information as this case unfolds.'"

"First I've even heard of the breakout." Venusaur said. "We only got back late last night, after all. Usually we patrol the city a few times though. If anyone from inside the city had done it, we would have seen them. It was either from outside the city or inside the prison." 

"Aye." Sceptile seemed to agree, but he still sounded uncertain. Aamira was used to it by now and just ignored it. 

"I'm guessing that's Miracle City…" Quill said under his breath. 

Ahead of them was a huge city. It was nothing like any of the other cities in Sylva. Unlike the other cities, there wasn't a tree in it and looked like how anyone would normally imagine a city. It had an older look to it though. The streets were made with bricks, as were the buildings. The windows had glass in them and all the buildings had normal doors with nothing fancy added, although this city seemed like the highest class city in the country. 

Aamira slid off of Venusaur's head and landed on the ground with no problem. It was as if she had never had an injury at all. "It seems so familiar." 

Aamira walked into town alongside Sceptile, Venusaur, and Quill without hardly any trouble. The city was obviously the largest and it was impossible to keep track of all the different types of pokemon. Along the way they saw a group of Weavile, a Delcaty walking with a Skitty, some Murkrow, a Meowth, a Scizor, and tons of other pokemon. 

"It almost feels like I've been here before." Aamira ran around a corner and saw a huge church-like building. At the top was a golden bell which was shining brilliantly in the evening light. "I knew this was here." 

"Maybe it has a similar layout to the city you came from?" Venusaur said. 

"Maybe…" 

Aamira walked up to a fountain that was in front of the building with the bell at the top. She stuck her hand into a spray of water that was coming from the top of the fountain. From around the edge of the fountain came an Azurill, a Totodile, and a Squirtle all running on the fountain's rim. Azurill hopped on one foot to keep his balance, Totodile ran around the edge of the fountain effortlessly, and Squirtle lost his balance and fell back into the fountain and splashing his friends and Aamira. 

Aamira, Azurill, and Totodile all laughed. Squirtle popped his head out of the water and laughed nervously along with the other three. 

"Hey! You kids get out of the fountain! You know you're not supposed to play in there!" A yellow and black pokemon flew towards the fountain and the three younger pokemon ran out and hid behind Aamira. "And who are you?" 

Aamira saluted. "Messenger from Team Sleuth! Bronze Rank Investigation team of Vine City!" 

"Who was wasting time playing in the fountain like these unruly little kids." He added. 

"Ninjask!" A blue Hoothoot flew in front of the yellow and black pokemon. "They're only kids. Give them a break. Needless to say Miracle City's Investigation Teams no longer have the spirit that Vine City's have. Most people don't even know our city trains Investigation Teams." 

"Our teams are well disciplined and ready for anything. Vine City's are little more than children themselves." 

"Aamira!" Quill ran up to Aamira with Sceptile and Venusaur close behind. "Hey, you found Hoothoot! And… Shedinja's brother… How great…"

"Oh, you were looking for me?" Hoothoot landed on the ground in front of Quill, then looked back at the kids who were still hiding behind Aamira. "Why don't you three go play somewhere else for a while?" 

The three kids listened and ran off somewhere else. 

"So you two are the messengers?" Hoothoot asked. 

"Yep." Quill handed him the letter from the Pedal Village's Hoothoot. "Your sister said it was urgent." 

Hoothoot removed the letter and turned so Ninjask couldn't read it over his shoulder. "Alright, you two come with me." 

Quill and Aamira looked at each other nervously and followed Hoothoot to the large building behind the fountain with the bell at the top. Hoothoot told them it was the town hall building. 

"So, you two saw it necessary to accompany Team Sleuth on a simple delivery mission?" Hoothoot asked Team Overgrow. 

"Noctowl." Sceptile said. 

"Ah, yes. Just like my uncle. Always so strategic and thinking of the best solution for everyone. I suppose it has to do with what happened on your first delivery?" 

"Aye. It was pure chaos. Still can't believe we got through it." Venusaur said. "So, what's this all about?"

"I… Well, I'm not sure if I can tell you that. Many strange things have been happening. Yes, so strange…" Hoothoot led them into his office on the top floor.

Even Hoothoot's office seemed strangely familiar. She walked over to the right side of the room and stood facing Hoothoot's desk. She waved her right hand in front of her as if she was touching something that wasn't there. Aamira looked over her right shoulder at a window and walked over to it. She gingerly put her left hand on the windowsill and looked down over the town as if she did so every day. 

"Ninjask?" Hoothoot said. "Would you mind going to get a file for me? I think you know the one."

"Yes, sir." Ninjask flew out the door and disappeared behind a corner. 

Hoothoot closed the door after him to make sure no one could listen in and flew over to Aamira. "You seem to recognize this place. Strange, but I've never seen a Riolu around here, or a human in that case." 

Aamira snapped out of her trance and looked up at Hoothoot. "Noctowl told you, didn't he?"

"He wouldn't have needed to. Hoothoot and Noctowl can see things most people can only with an Aura Glass. Some pokemon, like myself, can see even more. Just remember that there will always be people who can tell. Be careful around people like that." 

"So what exactly do you know?" Aamira asked. 

"Nothing really. Not about you anyway. But I do know that somewhere in the world is a place that can lead you back home. I don't think you're ready to know where that is though." 

"What?" Aamira pinned Hoothoot to the wall by his wings. Everyone else backed up a little. "You do know something! Tell me! Why don't you think I can go back home yet?"

"This is precisely the reason! You're here to learn something. Something about you has to change. Uncle Noctowl says that nothing happens out of mere coincidence." Hoothoot said quickly.

"Just tell me where this place is!" Aamira said angrily. 

Hoothoot used Swift to knock Aamira back. "I told you I can't tell you yet!" 

"You know something!" Aamira got back up and pinned Hoothoot to the wall again. 'First in thousands of years. Uncle must know something about—.' Aamira let go unwillingly and after realizing what she had done, stepped back from Hoothoot. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Aamira collapsed onto her hands and knees shook her head. "I wasn't trying to hurt you…" 

"Aamira…" Quill walked over to her calmly. "I may never know what it's really like, but I still feel the same things you do. You're emotions constantly change every time someone brings up you being human, but you feel scared above all. I understand that. I promised I'd help you didn't I? So for now we'll just stick together, okay?" 

Aamira buried her face in her arms and started crying. "I only want to know as much as I can about this. Hoothoot knows something about this, I just know it! Why won't he do anything?"

Sceptile stepped forward. "Trust." 

Aamira froze at the sound of Sceptile's voice. 

"No one, not even you, knows who you were as a human or why you came here." Sceptile explained. "We don't know what will happen if you go back. Gain more people's trust and maybe Hoothoot could tell you." 

Aamira took a deep breath and calmed down. Her change in emotions was so sudden it made Quill shake. Aamira sat up on her knees as if in a trance again. "And what am I to all of you? How do you all see me? As a threat, or maybe just a helpless little kid?" 

"Aamira!" Quill hugged Aamira's arm. "If he won't help you find your way back home, then we'll just have to ourselves." 

Aamira rubbed her throbbing head with her free hand. "And how do you see me?" 

Quill let go of Aamira's arm. "I don't think it would be possible for someone to be so close to a friend. Sceptile said it's only possible for me to feel your emotions because our aura is similar. If that's true, and I've been thinking this a lot since then, then you're like… a sister." 

Aamira took a deep breath. "I hate this… I don't know how much more of this I can take. At least because of you someone knows what I'm going through." 

"I should have never brought this up…" Hoothoot said guiltily. "Let me explain, while I believe you're not ready to go back yet, I never said I actually knew where this place was. All that I said was that it was somewhere in this world. You never really gave me a chance to say so." 

Aamira's thoughts raced. Even ones that didn't seem to be her own. 'Poor child. So desperate. I would tell her if I could…' "I believe you…" She said simply. 

"Just like that?" Hoothoot asked. 

"Not that I have much of a choice though, right? Ever since I got here I've never had much of a choice in anything."

Quill wanted to say something, but as much as he tried to think of something, he knew what she said was true.

"I need some time alone…" Aamira got up and made her way to the door, still in a trance-like state.

Just as Aamira was reaching for the doorknob, Ninjask rushed in and nearly knocked her over. "Hoothoot! You're not going to believe this, but the archive building is on fire!" 

"What?" Hoothoot ruffles his feathers.

"What are we waiting for!" Aamira shouted with sudden vigor. "Hurry!" She led the way outside and, like before, ran instinctively towards the archives. Not that she needed to know where it was. A huge plume of smoke was rising from the other side of town. 

Pokemon were shouting and running in every which way. Some didn't back away and instead kept shouting, "There're people still in there!" 

"This is bad." Aamira said. 

"Alright," Sceptile stepped in front of the other three. "Venusaur, you round up any water types you can find. Quill, since you're a fire type and can't be burned, get in there and try to rescue any pokemon you can find that are still trapped inside. Aamira, you come with me. I need your help with something." 

Aamira and Quill stared at him. 

"What, surprised to hear me talking so much? I do when necessary, and now you're wasting time. Now, everyone, MOVE!" 

"Right!" Quill ran towards the burning building and Venusaur ran off in the direction of a group of confused looking water pokemon. 

"Come with me." Sceptile said. "Keep your Aura Glass out."


	8. Chapter 8 Vengeance

"Two times in a row… Last time it was a whole forest… Can't be a coincidence." Sceptile said under his breath.

Aamira stopped and picked up a seed. "What's this?" 

"A Miracle Seed. The symbol of Miracle City and these days rare and strictly guarded in the Archives. A thievery?"

Aamira looked at the ground. There were footprints leading away from the Archives and past the spot where they were standing. "I've seen these footprints before. They're Charmeleon's."

"I was afraid of that…" Sceptile said.

Aamira looked at the hidden footprints through the Aura Glass and followed them. They stopped right at a river which was deeper in the woods. They followed the trail, but no one was there. "This doesn't make sense… Why would he, a fire type, come this way?" 

Sceptile looked up. "Above us!" 

They both dodged out of the way of a Flamethrower just in time. Charmeleon jumped out of the tree and landed facing Aamira. Aamira shivered, either from a fear she couldn't exactly feel, or a strange excitement.

"If it isn't my 'comrade' Aamira." He said in his sneering voice. "I was hoping to see you again." He used Flamethrower again and Aamira blocked it with a Force Palm. "What, still too slow to dodge? And to think someone like you could learn Aura Sphere…" 

"What do you want?" Aamira shouted at Charmeleon. 

"At first, revenge. I was on my way to Vine City to free the outlaws that were trapped in the prison. On the way, I decided to have a little fun with the abduction of that little runt to perhaps lure some Investigation Teams out of hiding for a good bounty. 

"Then you showed up and, unexpectedly, I lost. I hated you for that, but now, I thank you for it. You see, there was a bit of a snag I failed to see. Vine City's prison was very well hidden and would have taken me a long time to figure out where it was hidden. Because of you and Quill, I didn't waste any time at all. After devising a plan, I escaped with the strongest and most feared outlaws ever known. Thanks to you, Aamira." 

Aamira clenched her fists. "So, you came just to show your appreciation, right? I'm touched."

Charmeleon smirked. "It's not possible. A Riolu that can use Aura Sphere… I could still use someone like you on my side. You don't think I would have ears in the sky? 'Ever since I got here I've never had much of a choice in anything.' That's what you said, right?" 

"How much did you hear?" 

"Nothing more than that. One of my spies just happened to hear you. He recognized your voice too. Said he knew you from somewhere." Charmeleon laughed sneeringly. "Too bad you'll never pick out the infiltrator. You'll never figure it out." 

Aamira's thoughts races as she tried to figure out who it could be. "Is it Ninjask? It would make sense."

"Not exactly. You're free to guess as much as you want, but you'll never know. But getting back to what you said before, you should know you always have a choice. I'm giving you a choice to make your own decisions. Stay here and you'll never be free. Always serving the people of Sylva." 

"You're from a different country…" Suddenly everything made sense. "This has nothing to do with you being an outlaw, you're just doing what you're supposed to." 

"Finally figured it out, huh?" Charmeleon smirked again. "My methods may not be by the book by any country's standards, but I'm always the most reliable. You can learn more from me than anyone else in this country, you know." 

"Learn from you? Last time I checked, Quill and I won that battle." Aamira looked up, calmer than before. "And I think I already know who the infiltrator is. And where you're from."

Charmeleon growled and rushed towards Aamira. He tried to use Metal Claw, but Aamira dodged out of the way and Charmeleon's claws got stuck in the tree Aamira had been standing in front of. He pulled his claws out with minor effort. 

"There is no good and evil!" He shouted at Aamira. "There is only loyalty and hatred! You're blind if you can't see that!" 

Aamira lowered her guard. Charmeleon smirked again. "So, will you join me? I already got what I was sent here for, plus some bonuses." 

"No, I don't think I will be joining you. I won't fight either. There's no point. Can't you see I'm not alone here?" 

Charmeleon looked over towards Sceptile who had just been watching the whole time. "Ah, yes. Team Overgrow's leader, if I'm correct." Charmeleon laughed. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I've heard a lot of your third member lately." 

Sceptile continued to watch him emotionlessly. 

"You've just been twisted by fear. What has the leader of your country told you? Arcanine was right. You have gone mad, but it wasn't from losing to me or being locked in the prison." 

"The truth! The truth has driven everyone in my country into insanity! Don't you realize the truth yourself?" Charmeleon shouted to Aamira. "You're not from Sylva, I can tell. They've been secretly using you all this time!" 

Aamira looked at Charmeleon, trying to look as emotionless as possible. As hard as she tried, she just couldn't hide her worry. 

"You know how possible it is. You don't know anything, do you? The Riolu and Lucario disappearing… It's no accident! Every country had a part in it. They were thought to be a danger, but strangely enough, after they began to disappear, the world's natural energy started to mess up. The strong aura radiating from Riolu and Lucario kept the world in balance, and, now that a Riolu or Lucario's aura is the only aura left still in order and still controllable, every country's been rushing to get one, no matter what the cost." 

It felt as if someone had just stabbed her through the heart with an Investigation Team's Aura Staff. It couldn't be true. Maybe she had been turned into a pokemon by someone she knew. Maybe Quill even knew. 

"There is no good an evil, only loyalty and hatred, and those who defend or attack. People either want to gain power, or stop others from gaining it. It's an eternal conflict that will never end that's nearly led to the disappearance of your race. Now if you were really only to be used by my people as a pawn do you think I would tell you all of this?" 

"No, I don't think you would." Aamira took a couple of steps forward. 

"Aamira!" Sceptile shouted. 

Aamira looked into the panic-stricken eyes of both Charmeleon and Sceptile. Could it have been true that this was the only reason she was here? Aamira remembered what Charmeleon said: 'The strong aura radiating from Riolu and Lucario kept the world in balance, and, now that a Riolu or Lucario's aura is the only aura left still in order and still controllable, every country's been rushing to get one, no matter what the cost.' 

"No matter what the cost…" Aamira said absentmindedly. 

"You see now?" Charmeleon asked. "You lost your memory, yes? They stole it. You were created by Sylva to be used as a pawn. If they can erase memories, then what else could they do? Control you? Who knows? And who knows how many more people are next? Riolu, Lucario, and other pokemon alike. Who knows if maybe they're not just using you as a test subject?" 

Aamira's head hurt really badly. It felt like it was splitting in two. 'What if it's true? Could this pain be what they're doing to me…?' She remembered their first day as an Investigation Team: 

'So would you ever want to leave Vine City?' Aamira asked. 

'Yea, I guess so. I've always wanted to solve my own mystery of where I came from. I came here to Vine City one day with my little brother who was really sick, and Chansey couldn't save him… I was sorta in shock a little, so now I can't remember much about where I used to live before then. But of course, I was so young I probably wouldn't have been able to remember anything either way.' 

'Oh, I never heard about your brother…'

'What if Quill's little brother was just a fake memory? That would explain why he doesn't remember where he's from and why our aura is the same…' The pain in Aamira's head worsened. What were the odds of that happening right in the middle of this conversation? 

More memories started to come back: 

'Could you please stop! I can tell how Aamira feels, remember? No one should have to feel like this!' Quill wiped the tears from his eyes.

'Even if that's true, what could he have done…? Only he can understand me…' Aamira shouted in pain and fell on her side. 

"Aamira!" Sceptile's voice sounded so distant. 

More memories came back to her: 

'Aamira!' Quill hugged Aamira's arm. 'If he won't help you find your way back home, then we'll just have to ourselves.' 

Aamira rubbed her throbbing head with her free hand. 'And how do you see me?' 

Quill let go of Aamira's arm. 'I don't think it would be possible for someone to be so close to a friend. Sceptile said it's only possible for me to feel your emotions because our aura is similar. If that's true, and I've been thinking this a lot since then, then you're like… a sister.'

'Quill… you're like a little brother…' Aamira felt too weak to actually say anything out loud, but the pain lessened just at the thought. 

One more memory came back to Aamira. One that she never thought would be very important: 

On an early morning Aamira stood facing Shroud Lake. The fog twisted and formed mysterious shapes. 

'Aamira!' Quill ran up behind her, tripped, and lost his balance. 'Ah! Watch out!' 

Aamira turned just in time for Quill to run into her. Both tumbled down the hill and landed in the lake. Quill yelled and scrambled to the shore. Once on dry land he shook of as much as he could and tried flaring up to get dry. 

Aamira smiled, still swimming in the shallows of the lake, and started laughing at him. Once Quill finally got dry, he joined in laughing.

Aamira was smiling. The pain in her head was gone. 

"You're alright now?" Sceptile was kneeling down next to her. "Quill should be here soon. The fire's almost out and everyone's been rescued." 

Aamira got to her feet and faced Charmeleon. "If I go anywhere, Quill would come too." 

"Of course. After all he is from my country. It's only right that he should come too." Charmeleon said more kindly than before. 

"Well I never said where we were going. We'll leave eventually. Not knowing who to trust is hard, but since I do know someone who I can trust, why not trust him? And he trusts me too." 

"So you won't come to Ignis with me and you won't stay in Sylva, then where are you going?" 

"I don't know yet. First I guess we should stay here to learn more about the natural energy's imbalance, then we'll go somewhere where we might find a solution. Maybe I'll even find my lost memory." 

"You really are a peculiar one. Every country wants something and every country will try to gain your trust. You'll have to choose sides eventually. I'm offering you a choice." 

"And I've made my choice. If this is the way it has to be, then I'll figure out who to trust in my own time." 

"Then I guess I have no choice but to stop giving you a choice!" Charmeleon used Overheat. Aamira couldn't get away in time. Sceptile pushed Aamira out of the way and took the full blast of the Overheat. 

"Sceptile!" Aamira rushed over to him. 

"What, this again?" Charmeleon said angrily. "This is the second time!" 

"What?" 

Sceptile took a picture out of his bag. "I take this with me everywhere. Meganium… She was a friend of Venusaur and I. On our first delivery mission, Charmeleon started a forest fire. We tried to stop him, but… he attacked me and Meganium saved me by pushing me out of the way. But Meganium…" 

Aamira shook her head. "No… No, please tell me you're stronger now! Tell me you can make it through this!" 

"I'm afraid not… I'll be with Meganium soon though." 

"No!" Aamira turned to Charmeleon. "You were wrong… There is evil." 

"Think what you want, but I'm not giving you a choice anymore, remember?" He sneered at her. "Or maybe I could do the same to Quill? I could even start another forest fire if I wanted to." 

"Get out of here!" Sceptile shouted. 

"I'm not leaving you here!" 

"Aww! How touching!" Charmeleon attacked Aamira with Metal Claw and pinned her to a tree then used Flamethrower again at close range. 

Aamira collapsed onto the ground in front of the blazing tree. Charmeleon set some more trees on fire and picked Aamira up. 

"Stop!" a Flame Wheel flew towards Charmeleon. Charmeleon dropped Aamira and got knocked into the river. 

Quill stood where Charmeleon was only a few seconds ago. "Venusaur! Aamira and Sceptile are down!" 

"What?" Venusaur rushed over to them. "Not again…" he picked up the picture of Meganium and looked at it for a second. "Delibird. Get Chansey here as fast as you can!" 

A Delibird that had come with them saluted and flew off. 

"Hold on you two…" 

Aamira lifted her head of the ground. "What am I to you…?" Aamira asked Venusaur. 

"A friend." He answered. 

"And to Noctowl?" 

"A citizen of Vine City. As long as that's what you want to be."

Aamira laid her head back on the ground and smiled. "Good…"

"Stay still!" Chansey snapped at Aamira. 

"Where's Sceptile?" Aamira didn't stop struggling. 

"Well it won't do him any good if end up hurting yourself worse! Honestly you should have come straight to me after you're battle with Machop!" 

"If I had done that I wouldn't have figured out who the infiltrator is. And all those pokemon that got trapped in the fire would have—." 

"Yes, yes! I know! Now let me finish treating your burns and you can see Sceptile." 

Aamira stopped struggling, but the burn ointment and the bandages worsened her pain and made her fidget a lot. 

"What's this?" Hoothoot picked up a strange pendant. 

Venusaur took it with his Vine Whip. "It's a Charmeleon's Amulet. It's been tampered with though. This stone in here is an Oath Stone. It's an item for Lucario and Riolu." 

"That explains why Charmeleon was able to get into your head like that." Quill said. 

Aamira cringed as Chansey started wrapping the bandage around her right arm. 

"But what's this? The Oath Stone cracked. I wonder when that happened. Perhaps your willpower was stronger than he had anticipated. Somehow you broke free of the Oath Stone." 

"That would explain the headache and all those memories that just happened to come to me." Aamira said quietly. 

"And why your emotions kept changing after we got here." Quill said. "So he was trying to make you join him? He was never giving you a choice to begin with!" 

"Alright, you should be able to walk around now." Chansey backed away a little. 

Aamira struggled to get up on her feet. She looked behind her at the river. Charmeleon had been knocked in the river by Quill's Flame Wheel. "Has anyone found Charmeleon yet?" 

"Not yet." Ninjask said. "We have flying pokemon scoping out the area, but Charmeleon seems to have gotten away again." 

"But that amulet…" 

"Don't worry, Aamira." Venusaur said. "I doubt they'll try that again. If it didn't work on you, I doubt it would work on a well trained Riolu, let alone a Lucario." 

"We didn't do anything! Get off of me!" Vespiquen shouted. 

"Stay away from the Amber Queen!" The fancy looking Combee shouted. 

"Ha! Like we would fall for that!" Venusaur held up an orb. It glowed and Vespiquen turned into a pink blob like pokemon. 

"Eww! What is that thing?" Aamira said. 

"Ditto." Venusaur said. "A pokemon with the ability to turn into other pokemon. This one must be really skilled to turn into a particular person." 

Delibird flew over to Aamira. "The real Amber Queen was found locked in the castle's basement. We found this is her room. Mean anything to you?" he handed the letter to Aamira.

"This is the letter we delivered to Ditto earlier today. I figured Combee was involved when I remembered this being from Ember City, so I figured that Vespiquen must have also been an imposter." 

"You figured us out that easily?" Combee shouted. "Not fair! Not fair!" 

Aamira opened the envelope. The letter was still inside. "Hey, listen to this. 'I fear for the future of our world more than ever. Anyone should be able to see what's happening. With the insufficient amount of evidence you've given me, I can only conclude that Sylva is also oblivious to the cause of the energy imbalance. If I'm right, all the countries are being turned against each other. If this is the case it's even possible that other countries may think Ignis is involved. If we are ever to find the cause of this, I think it's best for all countries to work together, even the rival countries. Silex and Aequor will be some problem countries. Even we will have problems negotiating with Glacies and Tempestas. And now, we will never be trusted by Sylva. They already suspect we have spies infiltrating their country. I'm afraid the only thing we can do it to take their artifact. If we do so, it might be easier to negotiate with them. Get back as soon as possible and try not to leave behind any evidence that you were there. –Charizard.' Huh… So every country is suspicious of the others?" 

"Yes, it's been like this for a while now. Then you showed up. I'm sorry we didn't tell you; you're probably just as suspicious of Silva now. When you showed up, we thought either you might have been an infiltrator or truly a lost little kid with amnesia. In that case, we did all we could to protect you from other countries, including not telling you anything at all about the rivalry between the countries." Venusaur explained. 

"I understand. I still want to go somewhere else though. Maybe the problem is outside all of the countries all together." 

"That's what we suspected." Venusaur said. "We went to a certain place to make sure a hidden artifact was still in place. According to a legend some artifacts control the world's aura. We thought maybe something happened to this one, but it was fine when we checked on it."

"Oh, Venusaur, sir!" Delibird said. "That's actually why I came here. I have a message for you and Sceptile from Glacies." Delibird took the message out of his bag and handed it to Venusaur.

Venusaur read the letter slowly before folding it back up and putting it back in the envelope. "Aamira, Quill, if you two want to see Sceptile, we should go now. We won't be here tomorrow." 

"What? But Sceptile's hurt. He—." 

"—Is an extremely fast healer and will be up and around by tomorrow. Now come with me. He's resting at town hall." 

Sceptile had been staring at the ceiling for a while now, knowing that Quill and Aamira would eventually come to see him. Finally they came into the town hall's medical wing and Sceptile sat up on the bed that Ninjask had given him. 

"Were you waiting long?" Venusaur said. 

"Not at all. Just thinking." Sceptile answered. 

"Well for someone who just went through all of that again, I'm surprised you even answered." 

"When we lost Meganium, it felt as if my voice went with her. Today I thought I heard her voice again, so mine came back. I don't know if I'll go back to being 'Silent Sceptile' but for now, I'm as talkative as I was before." 

"Wait, who's Meganium?" Quill asked. 

"Our third member." Venusaur said. "She's not with us anymore, unfortunately." 

"Sceptile, are you alright?" Aamira walked up to him. 

Sceptile got up and punched her in the stomach. Everyone stared at him. "That's for not running when I said so!" 

"Like he would have let me! Besides if I did try to run he would have—." 

"You think I didn't know that? Next time you might have to make an impossible decision and what would you do then? You wanted to make your own choices but what happens when those choices are limited? There won't always be a third option." 

"There's always at least three choices if you look hard enough!" Aamira shouted. 

Sceptile was breathing heavily but finally calmed down. "Meganium used to say that a lot. Or at least something close. We've done everything we could to forget her, but… maybe it was a mistake." 

Aamira got back up, cringing from the pain of her burns. 

"I doubt she would have been able to run anyway." Venusaur said. "Charmeleon tried to control her thoughts with an amulet he made. Genius, if you ask me, but not very effective." 

"That explains a lot." Sceptile closed his eyes thoughtfully. "You only started having problems today, which was right after Charmeleon escaped. Specifically after… Aamira, could I see your bag for a second?" 

"Uhh… sure. I don't know what you're getting at though." Aamira handed Sceptile her Mail Bag. 

He searched through it for a few minutes and at first it seemed like whatever he was thinking was wrong, but since he hadn't been wrong before, Sceptile knew that he must have missed something. "Oh what am I doing?" Feeling a little stupid, he picked up his golden Aura Glass and looked at the Mail Bag. "There it is." He looked at the bottom of the bag and found a tear in the stitching. He put his hand through the tear and pulled out a blue stone like the one on Charmeleon's pendant. 

"Where did that come from?" Aamira asked. 

"I realized you started acting peculiar after your battle with Machop. I thought it was normal that a fighting type would feel a little sore after being defeated by another fighting type, so it never crossed my mind that he might have slipped this into your bag while you were fighting."

"So that's why you sort of gave up after the first hit. It must have already taken effect." Quill said.

"Hehehe… you finally got that, didn't you?" Everyone turned to see Machop smiling as smugly as ever in the doorway. 

"What do you want?" Aamira said flatly. 

"Oh? You sound a lot different now. I guess that stone did work. But don't worry; I know you're still desperate." 

Aamira looked at him confused. "What are you—." 

"Oh, you don't have to be embarrassed about not being trained at all. As unbelievable as it may sound, I, too was once a novice like yourself." 

"Oh, that! Well you see, Sceptile—." 

"Don't worry about that! I'm sure he doesn't think I'd attack you like that again after I was figured out." 

"No, what I was trying to say was—." 

"Don't worry. I understand if you don't want to start right away. After all, you just got beat up pretty badly and you are just a girl." 

"WHAT!" Aamira shouted so loudly it made even Sceptile jump. Machop was the only one who seemed not to have been caught off guard. 

"Training starts first thing in the morning! Be up bright and early!" He said as if Aamira hadn't said anything. 

"But first thing in the morning I'm—."

"I understand how busy you Investigation Teams are, but you can't shirk on you're training." He nodded importantly. "So I'll be at our Treehouse unpacking. I expect you to be getting ready for tomorrow." 

"OUR Treehouse?" Quill said. 

"Well just because I'm going to be her teacher doesn't mean I'll be taking over your Treehouse!" Machop walked out as if he did something like that daily. 

Everyone stared at the doorway for a few moments before Quill finally broke the silence. "What just happened?" 

"I'm not entirely sure," Aamira said. "But I think we just got a new recruit…" 

Quill put a hand on his head as if it were hurting. "Well this was definitely a weird first messenger mission…" 

"Oi. Sceptile. I nearly forgot." Venusaur whispered, though Aamira and Quill could still hear him easily. "Delibird delivered this a while ago." He took the letter out of his bag and handed it to Sceptile. 

Sceptile looked over the letter before reading it. "From Crystal?" 

"Aye." 

Sceptile's eyes sped back and fourth as he read the letter. After a few seconds he sighed and put the letter in his bag. "I had a feeling something like this would happen…" 

"What is it?" Quill asked. 

"Nothing you need to worry about yet." Sceptile answered. "But I'm afraid we've been called back to Glacies. We have to go right away."

"Wait, what about our 'special mission' we were going to do?" Venusaur said.

"I hadn't thought about that…" Sceptile thought for a moment and pulled a quill and piece of paper out of his bag. He wrote a quick note, sealed it in an envelope, and handed it to Quill. "This is your last assignment for today. Deliver this to Noctowl."

"We should get going if we're going to make it there in time." Venusaur said.

"Aye." Sceptile stood up. It looked like he hadn't even been injured.

Noctowl's eyes moved quickly as he hurried to read Sceptile's letter. Aamira and Quill had never known him to be so quiet. They both looked around nervously until Noctowl broke the silence with a sigh. "Okay, he told me everything that happened. I should have seen all this business with Charmeleon as a sign." 

"So what's going to happen now?" Quill asked anxiously. 

Noctowl flagged down a Delibird, whispered something in its ear, and it flew off. "To Charmeleon? I'm sure he was fully aware of the message sent to the Vespiquen imposter. If I can appeal to Charizard he could be tried under international offenses and sent to the prison in Aequor. Being a fire type he shouldn't easily break out of the water country's prison. Of course, this is only if we can catch him." 

"I don't get it though." Aamira said. "It was easy to defeat him the first time, considering it was our first mission. Why is everyone having such a hard time?" 

"You outsmarted him. Or rather, his ego got the better of him. He believed you really wanted to join him and you kept up your acting to the end and even ended up with a bit of luck with that Aura Sphere. He'll be more cautious than ever now, though. It won't be as easy catching him a second time, especially now that he can't battle." 

"Why can't he battle?" Aamira asked. 

"Oh yea. I knocked him into the river." Quill said. "When the flame on a Charmander, Charmeleon, or Charizard's tail goes out, they can't battle any more." 

Noctowl nodded. "Precisely. Though now he will most likely be reduced to common thievery, he will be even more cautious and harder to find." 

"But still, he seemed really worried about this whole mess up with the planet's aura. I think he really wanted to do something about it and now he can't do anything." Aamira said.

"You still feel sympathy for him?" Quill snapped at her. 

"That's pretty honorable of you after all he's put you through. I admire that. But the fact remains that we still don't know who's responsible for the aura irregularities. Charmeleon would have to do a lot of explaining on behalf of the attempted mind control." 

Espeon and Alakazam teleported next to Noctowl. 

"You wanted to see us, sir?" Alakazam said. 

"Yes." Noctowl turned to them. "There's been a slight change in plans. I'll be going away on a business meeting for a while. I don't know how long it will be, but until then, Alakazam, you're in charge." 

Alakazam looked astonished. "Sir?" 

"You heard me correctly. Espeon, that leaves you in charge of the academy tomorrow. And on a similar note, there's been a change in the field day plans also. Since Team Overgrow had to leave on an urgent call to Crystal, they asked that Team Sleuth take their place." 

"Team Sleuth! In charge of field day!" Espeon rushed forward so quickly she made Quill jump and hugged him. "Oh I've always wanted to see the day that you would be in charge of field day!" 

"I can't breathe!" Quill said in an excited voice. Aamira laughed at the two of them. 

"Oh, I'm sorry." Espeon stepped back from Quill and caught the eye of Alakazam who was glaring at her.

"So what's field day?" Aamira asked Quill. 

"It's a special time of year where all the kids in the academy get to go on a field trip to the lake and are taught by an Investigation Team. I've sorta always wanted to do it…" Quill's face reddened a little. 

"I could tell by the museum tour. Actually it seems like you want to do everything Investigation Team involved." 

"Field day is second only to graduation day, which I missed because I technically didn't even graduate… Well we don't have any other plans, why not?" 

"Teach? I'm not sure if I would be able to…" Aamira admitted. 

"You could just dip into the books again before you go to sleep tonight. You've already memorized so much. More than me anyway… Yea, you can cover history and I can cover first aid and item management, then we can both lead a tour around town to show the kids what we have to do every day to get ready for a mission." 

"Why not? It seems like every day things get more complicated… I'm almost scared as to what could happen…" 

"It's not like Charmeleon will suddenly rush in and attack us and hold one of the kids hostage…" Quill rushed over to a tree, knocked on it, and ran back. Aamira laughed. "Well you can't be too careful…" 

Nothing mattered anymore. His tail was extinguished and now he didn't even have the energy to swim to the surface of the river. All he saw above him were shadows of trees that rushed by him as he was swiftly carried away by the river's current. More shadows passed. Two in particular ran along side him. One of the shadowy figures reached into the lake and grabbed Charmeleon by his arm and pulled him out of the water. Charmeleon sat on the edge of the river and coughed up the water that had filled his lungs. 

"Leader, are you okay?" It was the one who pulled him out of the water. 

"Get off of me!" Charmeleon hit his friend's hand away. He looked back at his flameless tail. He tried to breathe fire, but couldn't. He tried charging up energy in his claws for a Metal Claw, but nothing happened. "Those two are going to pay for this…" 

"Calm down." His other friend said. "We got what we came for. We'll get revenge on Team Sleuth really soon." 

"Where is it?" Charmeleon asked. 

His friend pulled out a yellow-green gem that was shaped like a seed and handed it to Charmeleon. "The Grace-Seed, I believe they call it." 

Charmeleon watched the seed-like gem as it glowed slightly and spun in the air above his hand. "Everything's going perfectly. Maybe our little experiment on the Riolu didn't go according to plan, but with this… Yes, it would surely work on 'that' pokemon…"


	9. Chapter 9 Field Day

"Aamira! Wake up!" Quill rushed into Aamira's room first thing in the morning.

The first thing he noticed was a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. That hadn't been there before, so Quill wondered where Aamira had gotten it.

The second thing he noticed was Aamira laying on the orange, oval couch she had in one corner of her room. Apparently she had been dipping into the books again. Next to the couch was a few stacks of books and the bookshelf was almost empty. Aamira had fallen asleep while reading and still had the book over her face. 

"Aamira, get up." Quill walked up to her and started shaking her. 

After a few minutes, Aamira stirred and rolled over. The book that had been covering her face fell off and landed on the pile of books. "What time is it?" 

"Really early. We need to get ready though. Remember? Today we're teaching the academy kids for their field day."

"Oh yea…" Aamira sat up and rubbed her eyes. After waking herself up a little she crossed the room to the hammock she usually slept in where her Power Band and scarf were both folded neatly. She tied the scarf around her neck and the Power Band around her left arm. "Alright, let's go." 

Quill looked at her, concerned. Aamira was usually a bit of a morning person. "You look tired. How long were you awake?" 

"All night pretty much. If I ever taught a class before I can't remember it, so I tried to make myself tired by reading some more and… I guess it worked." She forced a smile in spite of her exhaustion.

"And the punching bag?" 

"Machop. Apparently he was serious when he said he wanted to make me his apprentice… Shortly after some small red pokemon came up here and took him for questioning or something. Made a bit of a racket too. Didn't they wake you up?" 

"No. Weird, usually I'm so nervous about stuff like this, but I was sound asleep last night." 

"Yea, well just try not to burn down the school this time…" Aamira said sarcastically. Quill laughed nervously and they both walked down stairs. 

After grabbing their bags, Aura Glasses, and staffs, the two of them headed out into town. Quill went to see Espeon before the kids came in, and Aamira headed to the library to return the books she had borrowed the previous day. It didn't even feel like she had been in the library the day before. So much had happened that it felt like a week had gone by since then. 

Aamira stopped when she heard people talking around the corner. 

"It's really getting that bad?" Leafeon was talking to another pokemon that looked a little like her. 

"Yes unfortunately." The blue pokemon's voice was quiet and timid. "Luckily Team Overgrow is on the way there. They'll figure out who took the Fiery-Orb in no time!" 

"We're so lucky to have teams like that around here." Leafeon said sadly. "But Glacies doesn't have Investigation Teams, does it?"

"We do, but they're all self-established. No academy or anything. All they have to do is apply, and of course that would lead to them not being as renowned as other teams. They do their share though, and we're happy about that."

"Yes. I'm sorry, Glaceon, but I have to open the library." 

Glaceon's voice suddenly became almost panic stricken. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have distracted you like this." 

"Oh don't worry about it. Of course I'll stop and listen to my brother!" Leafeon unlocked and opened the door to the museum. After switching the sign to 'open', she turned back to her brother. "You're going to visit Espeon, aren't you? Since you're here, you might as well." 

"I would but Alakazam said she's filling in as the academy's headmistress for the day. Wouldn't she be busy?" 

"Not at all. Today is the class's field day so they're all going to be going with an Investigation Team. I believe one of the members is the Riolu spying on us from behind that tree." 

Aamira walked out nervously. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spy on you, but I didn't want to step in on your conversation. I just needed to return the books I borrowed yesterday." 

"Oh, no problem. You can just leave them here and I'll take care of them." Leafeon said. "You better be getting ready for field day." 

At the academy Aamira found Quill sitting on the swing outside. 

When he saw her Quill jumped off the swing and ran up to her. "Where were you? It doesn't take that long to run to the library and back." 

"Leafeon was talking with her brother." Aamira explained. 

"Oh? Which brother?" Espeon walked up behind them. 

"It was Glaceon." Aamira said. 

"Little brother Glaceon's in town? Of course he's not really my younger brother, but we always thought of him as younger because of how shy he is. Tell me, what's the first thing you noticed about him?" 

"I don't know, his voice reminded me of snow or ice crystals?" 

Espeon smiled. "Yes I think so too!" 

"He said the treasure from Glacies was stolen. It's called the Fiery-Gem." 

Espeon looked stunned. "You shouldn't talk about the treasures in the open like this. You never know who could be listening." 

Aamira looked confused. "So there are more?" 

"Yes, alright? In this state of panic we're constantly living in, other countries are starting to believe another country has something to do with all the chaos, so to weaken them other countries are trying to steal the others' treasures. It was all nice and balanced before aura started going out of control. It could just be a natural thing that will fix itself eventually, and then what? All is forgiven and forgotten? I should think not."

"It seems like the problem gets worse every day." Quill said. "Or maybe we just keep learning how bad it really is."

Espeon unlocked the academy doors. "Well, you're coming in right? The kids should be arriving soon enough."

"Alright class!" Espeon said to all the students. "You all remember what day it is?" 

"FIELD DAY!" They all shouted at the same time. 

"That's right. Now I know you all expected Team Overgrow to come today, but they weren't able to make it, so the pokemon filling in for them will be Aamira and Quill from Team Sleuth." 

Aamira and Quill, who had been standing behind Espeon, stepped forward when announced. The class clapped for them, but didn't bother to hide their disappointment in not having Team Overgrow there. 

"Now, class, I know they're not as famous as Team Overgrow, but they're an Investigation Team all the same." Espeon sounded a bit annoyed but kept her voice from rising. "Think of it this way. If you were ever in trouble, would you want an Investigation Team to come to your rescue, or to be off teaching a class?" 

"I remember them!" One of the students said. "That Cyndaquil gave us a tour through the museum! And later that same day they saved us when we got poisoned." 

A few of the students clapped again, but a lot of them still looked disappointed. One of them, a Totodile sitting in the front row, even looked angry. He didn't clap the first time and now he was just glaring at Quill. 

"Team Overgrow's still better!" Totodile said. "In fact if Quill hadn't rescued her neither of them would be an Investigation Team member and I would have been able to make my team! But no, I ended up getting held back! And without Quill here, I've been taking most of the 'credit' as the class clown!" 

"Hush now!" Espeon said. "You know very well that you failed the recital. That's why you were held back! And anyway, because of your recent 'stuff springy Spinarak toys in the teacher's desk' trick, I took you out of field day." 

A few of the kids laughed. 

"Okay, so to get to know Team Sleuth better, we'll now have a question and answer session. After that, they'll take you around town, showing you what they usually do throughout the day, and finish by taking you to Shroud Lake for a lunch picnic and any extra lessons that they have planned for you. So let's start. Any questions?" 

Almost every hand, paw, fin, and wing in the room was raised at the same time. In spite of Team Sleuth not being Team Overgrow, they were all still excited. After all, field day came only once a year. 

"You first." Quill said to a Happiny in the front row. 

"Well I'm not planning on becoming an Investigation Team member. I'm planning on helping aunt Chansey and eventually taking over the business." She said nervously. "So my question is, why do you think Shroud Lake has healing powers?" 

Quill thought for a minute. "That's a tough one. Investigation Teams have been wondering about that for hundreds of years. But I'd have to say it's probably because we take care of the forest. Sylva is one of the cleanest countries in the world because of all the trees giving us such clean air. At one point maybe all water made things grow like Shroud Lake, but when it became tainted it lost its ability. Since Sylva has the cleanest air, we would also have the cleanest water. If all water did used to be like the water in Shroud Lake, it never would have been considered healing water, so it never would have been documented."

"Wow. I would have thought it would be more mystic than that. Maybe it is just a natural thing?" Happiny asked.

"Maybe. Then again, maybe not." Quill said. 

"You in the back." Aamira said to a Starly who had its wing raised. 

"Yay! She picked me!" He said excitedly. "What do you think is the most important item to have with you on an Investigation?" 

"An Oran Berry. No question about it." She said without really having to think about it. "One minute you're down about to be defeated, the next you're up and as strong as ever if you eat an Oran Berry." 

"This one's for Quill!" A Caterpie said. "Why are you wearing that polka dotted bow?" 

Some of the students laughed. 

Quill laughed for a minute also. "This is a Joy Ribbon. A Joy Ribbon makes the level of whoever wears is go up faster. You see, Riolu tend to level up pretty fast, so this is basically just so I can keep up with her." 

The students laughed again. 

"I have a question!" A Turtwig yelled to them. "What does that symbol on your scarf mean?" 

"Oh, this?" Aamira took her scarf off and looked at the symbol. "I'm not exactly sure what it means. I've had this scarf for as long as I can remember." This technically was true, even though the students didn't know she had amnesia. 

"What are your favorite colors?" One student asked. Everyone looked at her. "What? Miss Espeon said this was to get to know them better!"

"Mine's probably blue." Quill said.

"I like purple." Aamira said. 

After this question they were bombarded with some of the most unusual ones that anyone had ever asked them. Someone even asked them what kind of beds they slept in. Finally all the students felt like they had known Team Sleuth for a long time and they all headed out into Vine City. 

"In the morning it's a bit confusing." Aamira said. "I don't know much about the area so I've been going to the library every morning." 

"During that time I usually walk around the town to wake myself up." Quill said. "Sometimes I even stop at Keckleon's Shop to look around a little. After that we sometimes meet at Shroud Lake or just walking through the town." 

Aamira and Quill led the way to the Keckleon's Shop. At this point all the other Investigation Teams were running around. All the academy students looked around in amazement. Not a lot of them ever left the division of town they lived in except for school. 

"Welcome! Welcome!" The Keckleon sisters chimed. 

"We haven't seen you two in a while." Willow said. 

"What, too good for us now that you're an independent team?" Daisy sounded a little offended. 

Quill laughed nervously. "No, nothing like that. It's just that we've been so busy and yesterday we didn't really have a reason to come here since we were on messenger duty." 

"I guess in a way we gave you your first messenger mission, huh?" Daisy laughed. "Ooh, sis, we got lucky!" 

"Yea real lucky…" Willow rolled her eyes. "Anyway, listen, listen! We just got in some Reviver Seeds! And also something you might like Aamira." She held up a reddish brown disk with the number 60 on it. "This is a TM. This one in particular teaches you a move that could be really useful if you fight another pokemon like Charmeleon. It's called Drain Punch. Half the damage you inflict on an enemy will be used to heal you. No more getting worn out so easily." 

"How much is all of this?" Quill asked. 

Daisy got out the items. "Well you're only allowed to buy up to four Reviver Seeds, so if you got four it would all come to…" 

"5200 poke." Willow said. 

"She's always thinking of the next sale…" Daisy said flatly. 

Quill and Aamira looked at each other. "Maybe the TM and only three Reviver Seeds then." Quill said. 

"That would come out to 4400 poke." Willow said with a grin. 

"Can you take that out of our bank account?" Quill asked. 

"Sure thing. You just need to sign this and include the amount due and we'll stop by the bank later today." Daisy handed Quill a piece of paper and a quill to sign for the items. 

Willow handed them the items. "Things have been so much more effective since we started this system. Not only are we getting more customers but it's completely safe!" 

The academy kids all tried to watch as Aamira and Quill both signed the paper.

Daisy took the paper when they were done. "Aamira, I didn't know this was how you spelled your name." 

Aamira glared at her. "Which reminds me, I have to get someone to fix my name on my door back at our HQ…" 

"Now then, to learn the move from that TM more effectively, I would suggest going to the Dojo." Daisy said. "Not many people even know we have a Dojo. It's run by Master Gallade. He helps pokemon learn TM moves and even practice. Training at the Dojo can make your accuracy go up a lot and even your other stats. And with the right amount of training you might even go up a few levels." 

"So where is it?" Aamira asked. 

Willow pointed. "Down that road on your left." 

"Why have we never noticed that?" Quill asked. 

All the kids looked about ready to explode from excitement. Needless to say they were starting to enjoy the unpredictable life of an Investigation Team. 

Down the road there were no building and no trees large enough to be hiding anything like with the museum. Instead there was only a large cave. Inside there was no light and no sign of anyone near by. 

Quill flared up and walked out in front of everyone. The light from his fire wasn't enough to light the whole cave. Aamira stayed with the students and watched as he continued to walk deeper in the cave. A noise came from inside the cave. Quill stopped and looked up. Aamira and the students heard him yell. A shadow was cast through the cave by a figure blocking the light from Quill's fire, and the fire went out. 

"What happened?" One of the students asked.

Aamira didn't even bother turning back to them. "Wait here." Aamira walked into the cave and listened for anything around her. 'If only I could see aura…' She thought. Quill's fire flared up in front of her and so did a few torches all around them. 

"Sorry about that." A green and white pokemon said as he continued to light the torches. "I've been hearing a lot about a Charmeleon lately and since they like rocky places I figured he might try to come here to hide if it was completely dark. I'm afraid I mistook your flame for his." 

"Are you Gallade?" Aamira asked. 

"That I am." Gallade turned to his guests and bowed. "I must properly introduce myself though. I am master Gallade. Master, that is, of swordsmanship and courtesy." He turned to the students that were still outside. "You can come in. You're all my guests." 

The academy students walked in nervously and stood by Aamira and Quill. 

"I take it that it's field day already?" Gallade nodded at the students. "I don't think my dojo has ever been part of it before. I'm honored. So what can I do for the two of you?" 

"I got this from the Keckleon sisters." Aamira showed Gallade the TM. "They said it would teach me Drain Punch." 

"Alright, put it on your palm." Gallade said. 

Aamira did so and the disk started spinning. A figure of light appeared above the disk that looked exactly like a Riolu. It seemed like if Aamira were to reach out and touch it, it would be real. Another figure appeared. This one had no distinct shape. The Riolu figure faced the second figure. Its hand started glowing a dark and sparkly blue color. It hit the second figure and started glowing. Aamira figured this meant that the Riolu figure was being healed. Aamira's eyes started glowing along with the disk. The disk snapped in half and Aamira's eyes stopped glowing.

"It broke." Aamira said. 

"It's supposed to do that." Gallade told her. "TMs can only be used once unfortunately, unless you use a Cleans Orb on them. I'll keep any TMs you use in case you find a Cleans Orb and want to use it again or sell it. Also don't be worried about forgetting any attacks. It happens from time to time after learning a new attack. If you really want to relearn a move you've forgotten, go see Z at the Link Shop down by the Academy." 

"Wait, who's Z?" Quill asked. 

"He's a Porygon-Z, but I guess it would be weird for everyone to call him that all the time, so he goes by Z. Oh, and as you might have noticed by now, when you first learn a move it's hard to control and use." 

"I noticed that." Aamira looked at her right hand. "The first time we fought Charmeleon I used Aura Sphere. I haven't been able to since then. Sometimes I'll try to make it happen again, but it won't work." 

"Aura Sphere?" Gallade seemed to have forgotten he was the master of courtesy. "I'm afraid that's impossible." Gallade picked up a book on his desk and started flipping through it. "Aura Sphere isn't an attack that Riolu can learn. Lucario can, but not a Riolu. Compared to Lucario, Riolu are often thought of 'novices' as far as fighting goes."

"Well maybe Aamira's different?" Quill asked. Aamira had been thinking the same thing.

"Noctowl is a friend of mine, and while I promised him I wouldn't tell you this, when he found out who you were, he came to me to ask if I knew anything. Unfortunately I don't, but I believe that your 'former condition' would make it even less likely." 

"He told you too!" Aamira yelled. "He keeps reminding us not to tell anyone and yet every time we turn around someone else knows!"

"Relax. He doesn't tell just anyone these types of things. You can trust Noctowl. And of course if Alakazam knew about it he would want to tell the only team member that wasn't there at the time." 

"Wait, you were part of Noctowl's Investigation Team?" Aamira asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. 

"It's alright. Perhaps we got a little off track talking about Aura Sphere. Quill, have you learned any new attacks lately that you feel you might need to practice more?" 

"I learned Flame Wheel just yesterday." Quill said. 

"Alright, so we'll practice Flame Wheel and Drain Punch today." Gallade took their Joy Ribbon and Power Band and backed away. "Oh, could I ask all the students to go back against the wall? I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt accidentally." 

All the students scrambled to get out of the way. They were all murmuring excitedly about getting to see a real battle and even making bets on who was going to win. Some of them, still thinking everything has to have something mysterious hidden secret due to Quill's tour of the museum, were talking about what strange secret Aamira might have been keeping from them. 

"Alright, now face each other." Gallade said to Aamira and Quill. 

Aamira and Quill both looked at him astonished. 

"You mean we're fighting each other?" Quill said. 

"Well, why do you think I asked if you had any moves you wanted to practice? Trust me; it's also a good team building exercise. It's also the technique that Noctowl, Alakazam, and I used when we were an Investigation Team. It really works." Gallade backed up a little more. "Start whenever you want, but use Drain Punch and Flame Wheel only." 

Quill didn't waist time and immediately flared up and attacked Aamira with a Flame Wheel. Aamira did a back flip over the enormous inferno. She felt the heat from the flame on her tail and was careful not to touch the fire and get burned. Quill looked around confused. The half of the students that wanted Quill to win were all shouting at him to turn around. 

Since they were all shouting at the same time, Quill couldn't understand what they were saying. Quill looked around wondering where Aamira had gone. Behind him Aamira charged some energy to her fist, ran at Quill, and hit him from behind. Aamira could actually feel herself gaining a little strength that the Drain Punch had given her. 

The half of the students that were on Aamira's side all cheered. Aamira did another back flip and they cheered even louder. 

"Show off!" Quill rubbed the back of his head where Aamira had hit him with the Drain Punch.

Even though they were fighting against each other, both were smiling and having a lot of fun. Aamira charged her fist for another Drain punch, but Quill was determined not to get hit again. He used Flame Wheel as Aamira was running towards him, but Aamira did another back flip over the Flame Wheel and landed behind Quill again. This time Quill was ready and turned around faster, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid a long legged Riolu.

The crowd of students cheered again as Aamira hit Quill with Drain Punch. 

Quill rolled across the floor and stood up rubbing his head with tears in his eyes. "That hit in the same exact place!" 

"Come on! You don't think Charmeleon would try something like this?" Aamira yelled to him. 

Quill shook of the attack and ran at Aamira. Aamira thought maybe something was wrong since he wasn't using Flame Wheel. Either way Aamira figured from her battle with Machop it might be a trick. She struck at Quill with Drain Punch, but Quill, who had already been running, had gained enough speed to avoid her attack. Aamira struck the ground and her arm got stuck. She struggled desperately trying to get her arm free. Pokemon on both sides cheered and yelled trying to push Quill and Aamira on. Quill attacked Aamira with Flame Wheel and hit her while she was still immobilized. 

Though Aamira got hit, it also freed her arm. She landed on both of her feet and ran towards Quill to attack with another Drain Punch. Quill ran towards Aamira and waited until he was within attack range to use Flame Wheel. Both attacks collided and both Aamira and Quill were pushed back by the force of the collision. While Aamira had been hurt by the Flame Wheel, the Drain Punch had also somewhat healed her. Quill had been hit more, but his Flame Wheel was so strong that both he and Aamira had about the same amount of energy left. 

"That's enough." Gallade stepped between them. "I think you both should stop for the day." He passed his hand over Aamira and Quill and both were automatically healed. 

Happiny ran forward. "How did you do that?" 

"Lots of practice. Anything can be done with the right amount of dedication." Suddenly unable to believe what he said, Gallade turned to Aamira. "And, I suppose, it wouldn't be entirely impossible for you to learn Aura Sphere."

"It really did happen!" Aamira said. 

"Then promise me you'll try to practice that as much as possible." Gallade bowed like he did when they first met. 

"Sorry to interrupt." A red dog-like pokemon ran into the Dojo. "Are you two the leaders of Team Sleuth?" 

"What do you want us for?" Quill said nervously. "Growlith are the pokemon from the police force, aren't they?" 

"Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong that I know of." Growlith said. "But we've been getting some complaints about a lot of yelling coming from Team Sleuth Headquarters."

"Yelling?" Aamira and Quill glanced at each other and then looked back to Growlith. 

"Yes. I would like you both to come with me. If there's something going on that's involved with the team, you would both need to be there." 

"I have an idea!" Quill turned to the students. "Anyone here ever see inside an Investigation Team's Treehouse?" 

All the students shouted with excitement. 

"Alright." Growlith said. "But only after it's all clear." 

The yelling really was loud. The spark division where their Treehouse was located was pretty much deserted. Everyone had gone off somewhere else when the yelling was finally too much for them. The yelling was so loud that they actually heard it before they saw their Treehouse. 

"That sounds like Machop's and Nuzleaf's voices." Aamira said. 

Growlith went up into their base and dragged Machop and Nuzleaf out. The whole time they hadn't stopped arguing. 

"At least I'm a fighting type!" Machop yelled. 

"Yea? What does that have to do with anything? You're just jealous because my room's right next to hers!" Nuzleaf shouted. 

"As if! She likes me better and you know it! I'm probably the only one she can relate to in this messed up city!"

"Messed up! This is the greatest city I've ever been to! I won't have you insulting it!" 

"What, can't even think of any better come backs!" 

"You're full of it! Girls don't like people like that!" 

"How would you know? You spent pretty much your whole life with that old geezer in the jungle!" 

"Aamira…" Quill said. "I think they're fighting over—."

"Don't say it…" Aamira said flatly.

The kids behind them giggled. Two of them, a Pikachu and an Eevee, even became embarrassed and moved away from each other. 

"HEY!" Aamira was somehow able to yell louder than Nuzleaf and Machop were. 

"What?" They both turned and noticed Aamira. "Aamira! You're back!" they both ran over to Aamira. 

"Can I do anything for you?" Nuzleaf asked. 

Machop pushed Nuzleaf out of the way. "How about those lessons I promised!" 

Nuzleaf pushed Machop out of the way and held a leaf up to Aamira. "Maybe some relaxing music on a leaf whistle!" 

Machop shoved Nuzleaf again and held up his staff. "Boring! How about a sparing match? Fighting pokemon to fighting pokemon!" 

"Hey Nuzleaf, are you a doctor like your grandpa?" Aamira asked. Machop looked crushed and stared at her with his mouth half opened. 

"Yes! Yes, I am!" Nuzleaf got back up and stood in front of Aamira. "Do you need some help with something?"

"Well, uhh… It's just that… It sort of hurts when I do this." Aamira charged some energy to her fist and used Drain Punch on both Machop and Nuzleaf. Both were knocked unconscious.

"Wow…" Quill stared at them, unable to believe they fell for that. "That's like one of the oldest tricks in the book…"

The students all laughed at Nuzleaf and Machop. 

"So it was just another fight over a girl?" Growlith sighed. "This is just as bad as whenever I have to keep my brothers in check. It's bad enough being the only girl in my family other than my mom, but it's not any better with them constantly chasing after our leader… Get used to it, Aamira. Once a couple of guys get competitive, there's no stopping them, no matter how many times you knock them out." 

"I take it you know that much from experience?" Aamira asked. 

"My brothers have probably spent most of their lives unconscious. It doesn't really do any good, I tell you. And worse, I think it's starting to affect their tiny brains… Sometimes they'll end up fighting over someone they don't even really like just for the sake of a competition. Of course I've never actually had boys fighting over me before. I heard it could be fun messing with them, but I wouldn't know." 

Aamira smirked. 

"Don't." Quill said. "You can mess with them later, but right now we're in charge of field day." 

"Yea, I guess you're right." Aamira said. "So, who wants to see our Treehouse?" 

The kids all yelled again, but some of them looked a little scared of Aamira. Aamira and Quill led the way to the main floor of their Treehouse. 

"As you can see it's still pretty empty." Quill said as all the kids started looking around the room. "Up on the bulletin board over there are some of the missions we've completed so far along with a few other things. Oh, if you want to see something really cool come over here."

All the kids followed Quill over to the map. "I only figured this out yesterday. If there's any place in Sylva you want to find, just say it out loud and you can see it on the map!" 

"Line up and you can all try it." Aamira said. 

Happiny went first. "The hospital!" The map changed to an overhead view of Vine City with red dots for the location of every building. Out next to the post office was a dot larger than the others with "hospital" next to it. 

"Cool!" All the kids said at the same time. For the next few minutes they all took turns using the map. Some of the pokemon who had come from other cities showed everyone buildings the others didn't even know about. 

"Okay, I guess next we can show you our rooms." Aamira said. "I don't see why we couldn't."

They didn't stay in Quill's room for too long. His room was too hot for most of them, even though the fire in his coal bed had mostly burned down from that morning. Everyone enjoyed running around in Aamira's huge room. The trouble making duo of Pikachu and Eevee even swung around on her hammock until Aamira noticed, picked them both up by the tails and carried them out of the room to be laughed at by the other students.

In Machop and Nuzleaf's rooms they found a couple of somewhat surprising things. Nuzleaf had a picture of Aamira in a heart shaped frame on his desk. Machop had a wardrobe that actually had a shrine in it with a life sized picture of Aamira. 

Finally it was time for lunch and everyone shouted with excitement. 

The students all rushed back to the academy and got a picnic blanket and some picnic baskets and worked together to set up the picnic down by the lake. Espeon had made some nice sandwiches for everyone, including Aamira and Quill. Happiny was the only one who had packed a lunch. Apparently Chansey was also a good chef. After lunch they all packed up and Aamira and Quill got ready for the additional things they had planned for them. They had gotten Smeargle to paint them some pictures for a slide show so Aamira could tell them some legends she read about from the books in the library. 

About halfway through everyone started to get a little drowsy. Aamira was still able to get through it before anyone fell asleep. 

"I don't get it, is it boring?" Aamira asked. 

"No, not at all…" Quill yawned. 

"You're tired too!" 

"Yea, it's weird… If you ask me it looked like they were struggling to stay awake." Quill said. "You're slide show isn't boring though. Not at all." 

"I'm not tired." Happiny said. "And I liked the story. Even Miss Espeon's boring history lessons don't put everyone to sleep like this." 

Aamira yawned. "Something's not right. Happiny, you brought your own lunch, right?" 

"You think it's in the lunches?" Happiny picked up Pikachu's partially eaten sandwich and smelled it. "It smells funny… Oh no. I think this is a really strong sleeping drought! If someone falls asleep from this nothing can wake them up and if they don't wake up on their own they'll eventually die from dehydration or starvation." 

Aamira looked over at Quill. "Isn't there any cure?" 

"Oh yea! A Chesto Berry!" Happiny looked around her. Everyone had fallen asleep. "But Chansey said only Chesto Berries from this lake can wake them up and she also said I can't pick any berries from the lake…" Happiny looked around frantically. "She also said I should never leave a patient alone. I'm guessing that means multiple patients also… What do I do?" 

Happiny looked around frantically. "I guess Chansey will have to make an exception this time!" Happiny looked at the trees near the lake. After a while she found a tree with distinctive purple spade shaped berries. "I found them!" 

"Who could have done this?" Chansey asked after she arrived at the lake. "The herbs to make something that strong are really hard to come by. 

"Let me go!" Totodile suddenly appeared fighting desperately while being levitated in the air.

Espeon followed. "I make all my sandwiches a certain way. I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw the one I made for myself earlier that day. It also had Totodile's scent all over it."

"It was just a joke!" Totodile shouted. "I wasn't going to hurt anyone!" 

"What a nice simple ending to the day!" Chansey said happily. "And good job, Happiny. Remember, it's not always following the rules that matters, it's knowing when to break them."

"Really?" Happiny said. All of her classmates (except Totodile, of course) clapped for her. "I uhh… I think I want to be an Investigation Team member! I can be the team's healer!"

"I think that sounds great!" Chansey smiled, but it faded quickly. "Totodile, where did you get the herbs to make that stuff? And even more importantly, how did you know how to make it?" 

Aamira caught something out of the corner of her eye. She looked over and saw a shadowy figure standing in the trees. 

"Aamira." Quill said. "What are you looking at?" 

Aamira turned to Quill, then back to where the shadow was. It was gone. "I think I'm seeing things." 

"We probably need a break. Tomorrow, we're taking the day off. We can even sleep in for once!"

All the students laughed at Quill's ironic joke. 

A while later, all the students had gone home. Aamira and Quill came back from a simple last minute mission they decided to go on. "Fools…" A pokemon said to itself from in the bushes. It watched as Aamira and Quill walked into their Treehouse. "As if you'll ever know the truth…"


	10. Chapter 10 An Unlikely Ally

Aamira stretched to wake up in the early morning sunlight. They had finally figured out which day a week they should take the day off. The day was Tuesday, she figured, since pokemon didn't usually go by the days of the week she was used to. It felt like a Tuesday anyway. Aamira laid there in the hammock with the sun on her face and listened to the bird pokemon whistling outside. No one, not even the bird pokemon themselves, really knew why they whistled in the morning but it sure was calming.

Aamira saw a streak of red and white go by the window. She remembered that it had been a week since subscribing for the newspaper and she headed downstairs. The newspaper in her world came on Sunday and most people got a day off on Sunday. Maybe it was actually Sunday instead of Tuesday? It didn't really matter.

Quill, Machop, and Nuzleaf were already awake. Nuzleaf and Machop were currently engaged in an argument that made as much sense to anyone else as if they had been speaking an entirely foreign language.

Delibird was waiting on the edge of the large circle window at the back of the Treehouse, which was almost the size of the room it was in. Delibird took the paper out of the delivery bag and handed it to Aamira. "There's some good stuff in here this week!" Delibird took off without saying another word to finish his deliveries.

Aamira sat at a table that wasn't too far from the window. The morning light was shining directly in the window making it a good place to read. Most of it was ordinary things besides a popular common "Daring Cases" which talked all about the most risky missions that Investigation Teams take to ensure the safety of everyone.

"Happiny's in the 'Everyday Heroes' section." Aamira said to Quill.

"Really? Well that's not too surprising. If there's anything else, let me know." Quill said.

Finally Aamira flipped to the back. (The most exciting stories were always in the back to make sure people always read the papers all the way through and didn't just stop at the front page.) There was a picture, possibly done by Smeargle, of Sceptile and Venusaur from Team Overgrow.

"Team Overgrow's in the paper again…" Aamira said. "'While they haven't been seen in days, citizens of Crystal have assured us that they're regularly sending letters to them via Delibird messengers. While they won't explain what the mission is exactly that Team Overgrow is on, they did mention in one of the letter that this is sure to be 'The investigation of the century.' While citizens of Silva and Glacies alike both wonder about the importance and difficulty of the mission, everyone is confident that Team Overgrow will triumph again.

"'They're always more concerned about the safety of pokemon over anything.' A citizen who had once met Team Overgrow mentioned. 'They came here to do a mission a while back and, even though it was important, they stopped to help me when I got lost in the woods.'

"But how important is the mission that they're doing? While missions have been longer, the details are usually released. If they're shorter missions, we can usually wait for the details afterwards, but for now everyone's in the dark."

"So it really must be that important, huh?" Quill said.

"Yea, I guess so. They've been gone a week today. If they're going non stop on a mission, even they should be getting tired by now." Aamira folded up the paper, put some fruit from the bowl on the table in her bag, and walked towards the ladder.

"Where are you going?" Quill asked.

"I'm heading out to Stony Ridge. Since we're taking the day off, I thought I would practice Aura Sphere."

"That's what you do with your day off?"

"Well, it's a day off to me." Aamira laughed a little.

"But why out there?" Quill asked.

"Because that's where we were the last, and only, time I used Aura Sphere. If Riolu are mostly about their emotions, I figure if I can get the same feeling as before I might be able to use Aura Sphere again."

"Sounds logical. Wouldn't you want someone to come with you though? What if something happens? You'd be all tired and everything."

"I'll be fine. You can go train with Machop at the Dojo while I'm gone so you don't fall behind."

"If you say so…" Quill still wasn't sure about this. After all, Stony Ridge was the dungeon where they first met and fought Charmeleon, but he trusted his friend all the same.

Nuzleaf stood up. "Maybe I should come too. That way if something happens even if I'm not strong enough to help I could still run back here to get help. If something does happen and no one's around no one would be coming to your rescue for a while."

"There's always a damsel in distress, isn't there?" Aamira asked with a soft voice that, she found out, always make Nuzleaf blush. "Don't worry, if anything does happen, you would be able to tell, wouldn't you?"

Nuzleaf beamed at her. "Of course! That's the way the stories always go! Then I, prince charming, will come to your rescue! And I guess Machop could come along as the comic relief character.

"Watch it, Seedy." Machop said angrily. "If anyone's going to come to Aamira's rescue, it will be me! Right, Quill?"

Quill wasn't expecting him to ask for his help. "Uhh… well I can feel Aamira's emotions, so I think if anyone would actually sense she's in danger it would be… me…"

"WHAT?" Nuzleaf and Machop both looked outraged.

Aamira laughed. "Exactly, so what's the problem? I'll be back before tonight." Aamira jumped down the inside of the tree trunk rather than climbing down the ladder and ran out into Vine City.

On her way through Vine City Aamira ran into Dragonite. It was strange to see him out around the town since he was usually always in the underground museum.

"Hi Dragonite." Aamira said to him.

"Oh, it's you. Aamira, wasn't it?" Dragonite said. "I believe we've only met once, though I saw Quill in the library about a week ago when he was looking for you. How is Quill? I'm not used to him not being in the museum all the time."

"He's fine. But what are you doing out here? You're usually in the museum, aren't you?"

"Well yes but…" Dragonite flexed his wings. "You know, a pokemon with wings can't spend all of his time underground. If I was meant for that I would have been born a Diglett. So where are you off to?"

"We're taking the day off, so I'm heading to Stony Ridge to do some solo training."

"Ah, I see. Truth be told, I'm actually heading to a meeting with Noctowl and the other country leaders. I have no idea what this is all about. They said they couldn't tell me but it's something really important. But from being down there so long, I hope I can still fly." He flapped his wings a little and rose into the air. "What do you know! As easy as ever!"

"Well that's good." Aamira smiled.

"Hey, I'm going to be flying over Stony Ridge. You know flying's a whole lot faster than walking. I can take you there if you want?"

"No thanks, it would feel like I would be cheating if I did that."

"Right, I hadn't thought about that. Always so determined. I wish I still had that spirit. Well good luck to you, I have to be off now." He flapped his tiny wings a little more and sped off through the sky.

Aamira looked longingly up into the air. Dragonite had such small wings. It didn't make any sense why he was able to fly. But at least he knew what it was like. Aamira had never thought of it before, but it would be amazing to be able to fly.

But flying could wait. For now, Aura Sphere was what she was focused on. On the way out, Aamira stopped by the Nursery to get some Oran Berries from Cherrim and the Keckleon's Shop to buy some Max Elixirs.

Aamira, unfortunately, hadn't had much of an early start. By the time she got to the farthest place possible in Stony Ridge, it was already about noon. She ate some of the fruit she brought with her and decided to save the rest for later in case she got hungry.

Aamira stood at the place she had been standing when she first used Aura Sphere. The rock slide was still there from the last time when she used force palm on the cliff to trap Charmeleon. She tried to remember the time when she had been battling Charmeleon. When she thought she had the same feeling as last time, she tried Force Palm like she had that time, but all that would happen was, of course, Force Palm.

"Maybe I'm doing something wrong."

Aamira got an idea and started to stack up some of the rocks in groups of three so they looked something like tables. When she was done she karate chopped the first rock table and the rock on top was easily split in half.

Aamira looked at her arm. 'I still don't think like a Riolu much. If I did, I probably would have jumped from the air and used the bone on the back of my hand to completely shatter the rock.' Aamira looked back at the rock that was perfectly cut in half. 'But either way, I'm getting a lot stronger. I doubt I could have done that as a human. I should still try to blend in more.'

So for the next one Aamira tried it the way a Riolu probably would. The rock shattered as she had expected, but the vibration was so intense that pain shot up her arm. Aamira's teeth clenched and she gripped her arm. "I thought these bones were here to help me get stronger without getting hurt!"

Either way, she figured that there must be some way Riolu did it. She tried it again on another stone table and shattered the stone on top. This time, it didn't hurt at all. Aamira stared at the bone on the back of her hand curiously and tried it again on another stone. It shattered again, and this time it did hurt.

Aamira clenched her teeth and gripped her arm like before. That time it had even gone up to her shoulder. "Geez! Why does that keep happening?"

Aamira looked at the bone on her hand again. There were three marks on it from the dust that was all that was left of the stones. Two were lower than the other. The lowest one was from the first time, and the one that was highest up, which was also on the center of the bone, was from the second time when it hadn't hurt at all.

Aamira remembered a sport that humans played. It was baseball. In it the players had to hit the ball with a bat, and if they didn't hit it in the right spot the vibrations would go up their arm and cause a lot of pain, but if they hit it in a certain area, it would be more effective and no vibrations would be felt at all.

But baseball bats weren't actually attached to the players like the bones on her hands were. Plus the bones were smaller. It should be easier for her to hit the stones with the right spot on the bones than it would for a baseball player to it a speeding baseball with a long bat.

Aamira tried it on the rest of the stone tables, alternating between the hands she was using to break through each, and easily shattered all of them without the vibrations going up through her arms. Smashing the rocks, though, still wasn't an easy task after a while. Both of her arms were pounding and her legs hurt from jumping in the air so much. Aamira leaned back against the cliff behind her and sat against it.

Aamira looked at her hands for a minute. They were covered in dust from the stones and one was even cut from when she tripped over a rock and hit the stone wrong. But would this actually help her learn Aura Sphere?

'Have I been doing something wrong?' She thought again.

"Still can't figure it out? Seemed to work pretty well when we fought."

Aamira looked up and stood up the moment she saw Charmeleon walking towards her. He looked less threatening and the end of his tail was dragging along on the ground behind him and was fringed from where the flame used to be.

"Now don't get all tense or anything. I don't want to fight." He said.

"Really? That would be a first." Aamira said.

"Well it's not like I can after being knocked into the river by your friend. I'll admit I didn't see that coming and I was probably getting a bit cocky…"

"A bit? You let a new Investigation Team defeat you! The Charmeleon everyone used to fear taken down by the rookie team."

"Well it's not like anyone would fear me now anyway! My flame is gone! Charmeleon hatch from an egg as a Charmander and the flame on our tail starts with a spark. The first ambition and the fire in our hearts that lead us to take on any enemy, no matter how strong! It's also the source of all our power. When the flame on our tail goes out, so too does the will to fight. With it the flame in our hearts also goes out."

"Yea, great story. Now what do you want?"

"Let me finish! I said I didn't want to fight you, which is true. I also CAN'T fight you. I couldn't defeat a Caterpie if I tried. But I have a theory. If I regained that spark from the love of fighting, maybe my flame would come back. You're Aura Sphere was stronger than you think. It was the most powerful attack I've ever been hit with. If I can beat that attack, I'm sure it would be enough."

Aamira crossed her arms and laughed. "So you want me to help you? Well too bad because even if I wanted to I haven't been able to use Aura Sphere since then."

"You think I don't know? I see you up here a lot. Every night for the past week you've come up here probably without telling anyone. All you ever do is stand in that one spot and stare into the direction I attacked you from before. Quill didn't even know what you were doing, did he? Though I suppose you would have to tell him if you came here in daylight."

"So if you know I can't use Aura Sphere anymore, why are you telling me all of this?"

"You know, I scratch your back and you scratch mine. The deal is, I help you learn Aura Sphere, and you help me get the spark back."

"You would actually tell me your side of the bargain? That doesn't sound like you."

"I'm a different person now! This isn't a cheesy sob story or anything! Don't you get it? I've lost everything! I don't care if I have to go to prison or whatever afterwards." His voice was suddenly quiet and didn't sound like his. "Without my fire… I'm not me anymore… I'm not even a Charmeleon…"

Aamira lowered her guard. She sympathized Charmeleon and, even more than that, could relate to him. Aamira had lost everything. Her friends, family, humanity, and even her memory. But Charmeleon didn't lose his memory. He could still remember what it was like to be himself. Now it was slowly eating away at him.

"Fine, but on one condition. You give me the Grace-Seed." Aamira said.

"I expected no less." Charmeleon put his hand in the bag around his shoulder and pulled out a seed-shaped gem that was glowing slightly in a yellow-green color and revolving in the air above Charmeleon's hand. "I had a feeling you would know by now what I took. Keep in mind though that my friends and I have always been the ambitious sort. I could get in a lot of trouble if they knew I gave it back. Luckily my ambition also went with my flame, so I don't really mind giving it back."

Charmeleon threw it and Aamira caught it. Thousands of thoughts seemed to rush into her head at once. 'Guardian of the la—Over the land, I fly on an endless journey—Why don't other pokemon see things the way I—Humans are the only ones I can look towards now—They're all disappearing! I'm next! I'm… I'm…' Everything started to fade and go dark.

"Wake up! Come on!"

Aamira opened her eyes slowly and saw Charmeleon standing over her.

"What's wrong with you?" He said. "I throw you a gem and you pass out? I can understand if that hit you in the head or something, but you caught it! What happened!"

Aamira sat up. Her head was still spinning. 'I'm next…' She kept thinking over and over. "You couldn't hear it?"

"Hear what? You're constant screaming in your sleep? 'They're all disappearing! I'm all that's left! I can't go too! The Grace-Seed has to stay here! They'll take it for sure! I'm next! I have to be! I'm all that's left!'"

"I really said all of that?" Aamira rubbed her head.

"Over and over again. Seriously, if I was asked to repeat everything you said word for word in front of all the country leaders I probably could!"

"You evolve into Charizard, don't you?" Aamira asked absentmindedly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Charmeleon snapped at her.

"Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to… to… fly?" Aamira looked sadly at the Grace-Seed that was still spinning slightly in her hand and flashing for some reason.

Charmeleon, surprisingly, turned mellow and sat down next to Aamira. "Did something happen?"

Tears came to Aamira's eyes. "I think something horrible happened to the original owner of the Grace-Seed… Either that, or something is going to happen to one of us… Since you evolve into Charizard, I think it would be you…"

"You really think that? What, are you a psychic or something?"

"I don't know…" Aamira looked at her right hand as the Grace-Seed continued to revolve over her left. "Whatever it is, it isn't normal! It scares me! Sometimes I just get these horrible thoughts that don't feel like my own…"

"It's my fault. I take it you figured out my amulet trick?"

"It wasn't just then. Before then, and after. I think that whatever ability I might have might be the reason your trick didn't work in the first place…"

"You're a strange one…" Charmeleon got up. "Aura Sphere and now some sort of ability? Does Quill even know about this?"

"Sort of… He doesn't know about the bad thoughts I've had though. Thefts, attacks, and even torture… Sometimes it happens just out of nowhere. It doesn't make any sense."

"It's probably not smart to be telling this to an outlaw. Especially if you haven't explained it completely to your friend yet."

"But we're the same… In a way. And I guess we also sort of want the same thing. You want to get your flame back and I want to use Aura Sphere again…" Aamira looked at her reflection in the revolving Grace-Seed. Her eyes had somehow turned a dark sparkling green.

She stood up. "I guess we better get to work."

Charmeleon looked confused. "Just like that? You're not going to want to leave and think about what just happened?"

"Of course not. I can think about that later. If I'm found up here with a wanted outlaw, I don't know what would happen."

"We'd both end up in a prison cell."

"Quill, wake up!"

Quill opened his eyes and saw Gallade standing over him.

Quill sat up and looked at the floor of the dojo. "What happened?"

"You sort of just… fell over." Nuzleaf said. "What happened?

"I'm not sure." Quill was still in a daze and couldn't think straight. "I think something bad just happened."

Nuzleaf and Machop looked at each other with panic written all over their faces.

"What happened?" Gallade asked. "Do you know what happened?"

"I think something's happened to Aamira." Quill said. "She's at Stony Ridge. We have to go now."

"I'll go with you."

Though they had tried over and over again, Aamira just couldn't use Aura Sphere, and Charmeleon couldn't get his fighting spirit back. They even tried standing in the same position as before. Charmeleon attacked in a position similar to the one he had been when he attacked her the last time with Metal Claw. He was a convincing actor, so Aamira was really surprised when it didn't work.

"This will never work!" Charmeleon said as he panted furiously. Seeing as he couldn't use any actual attacks, he was the most hurt and tired of the two of them.

"Here, eat this." Aamira through him an Oran Berry. Charmeleon ate it gratefully.

"Aww! What a lovely couple! Out on a date, I suspect, seeing how beautiful the view is from here."

Aamira and Charmeleon turned and saw three pokemon walking towards them.

"Really, Prinplup." One of the three said. "We could have just taken it and been out of here before either of them knew what hit them!"

"You're right, Golduck, but it's just so much fun messing with weaklings like these!" Prinplup replied.

"Both of you, knock it off. We've got a mission to do. No more messing around!"

"Milotic…" Charmeleon backed up a bit.

Milotic laughed evilly. "You've heard of me. I'm truly honored." She flicked her tail and her beautiful scales shone brightly in the evening light. "You look scared."

"I'm sorry…" Charmeleon said to Aamira. "I can't help you with this."

"Aww! Did you just break up with her?" Prinplup said.

"What is wrong with you?" Golduck said angrily. "Besides, she's too young for someone Charmeleon's age."

"I told you to knock it off!" Milotic shouted. "Good help is so hard to come by…" Milotic twisted her tail around and started spinning it. The attack hit Aamira before she even knew what to expect. The Grace-Seed fell out of her bag and rolled across the ground towards Milotic.

"How boring!" Prinplup pouted. "There's never a challenge anymore!"

"For once, I agree." Milotic said. "Go ahead and take care of that Charmeleon if you want to. Without his flame we'd probably be doing him a favor."

'It's true…' he thought. 'Milotic really is as merciless as the stories say… But this probably is the best thing for me.'

Prinplup used Hydro Pump. Before it could hit Aamira jumped in the way. She got the full blast of the attack and fell at Charmeleon's feet.

"Ooh! This could be more fun than I thought!" Prinplup said excitedly.

Charmeleon kneeled down next to Aamira. "Are all the people from Sylva as crazy as you and Sceptile…?"

Aamira smiled. "I want a fair fight one of these days…" Her eyes rolled back in her head and she blacked out.

'What's wrong with me!' Charmeleon thought to himself. 'I used to only care about how much I got paid. I never cared who my client was or who I hurt in the process and now I'm getting all upset over this Riolu? But… maybe my fire isn't the way I thought it was…'

The end of Charmeleon's tail suddenly flared up brighter than ever before. He used Overheat on Prinplup. Charmeleon kept it going longer than he ever had before. When he finally ended the attack, Prinplup was badly burned and fell, unconscious, onto her back.

"I see the rumors about you are true." Milotic sounded unsurprised. "I had a feeling Prinplup wouldn't be able to handle a battle with you.

Milotic moved towards Charmeleon. Her strange snake-like movements along with all of her glittering scales made it impossible for Charmeleon to tell how fast she was moving, or in what direction.

Charmeleon didn't know what to do, but decided he had nothing to lose and ran towards Milotic. He used a strange attack he wasn't familiar with. It was almost like tackle, but the attack made him glow brighter than his fire. Milotic cringed in pain and looked as if she couldn't believe what has just happened.

Aamira's eyes opened slightly while Charmeleon was still glowing. The first thing she noticed besides the faint glow that still lingered was that his flame was back. Then she noticed Milotic, who seemed to be stumbling though it was hard to tell.

'That attack he just used…' Aamira thought. 'I've read about that one. Return. The attack is stronger and the light brighter the more the user is a friend to someone…'

"Why you…!" Milotic rose a little higher off the ground and used Dragonbreath on Charmeleon.

It hit him hard, but he didn't back down. Milotic opened her mouth and an orb of water formed in front of it. Just one hit from a Water Pulse would probably end the battle.

Just as Milotic fired the Water Pulse at Charmeleon, a blue sphere hit the attack and canceled it out. Charmeleon looked back and saw Aamira standing behind him. She didn't look like she had been hurt at all. Aamira jumped into the air and another Aura Sphere formed between both of her hands. She fired it at Milotic, but Milotic dodged it. Aamira landed on the ground next to Charmeleon.

"I guess a deal's a deal." He said. "I got my flame back and you figured out Aura Sphere."

"Looks like it. I can't believe I didn't see it before. It wasn't my battle with you that let me use it the last time. I was trying to protect Oddish." Aamira explained.

"And this time it worked when you were protecting me. Ah the irony."

"How about a combination attack?" Aamira glanced at him.

"I get it."

Aamira used Aura Sphere again and Charmeleon used Flamethrower. The Aura Sphere caught on fire and the two attack's strength and speed combined. It hit Milotic and knocked her over. She didn't move to attack again.

"Did… we win?" Charmeleon sounded a bit shocked. "We beat Milotic?"

"Wait. Wasn't there a third one?"

They both turned to the sound of roaring water behind them. They were both hit hard with a Surf attack and knocked nearly off of the cliff. Aamira gave an Oran Berry to Charmeleon and ate one herself. Both of them attacked Golduck. Their fight lasted much longer, but in the end, Charmeleon and Aamira won.

"I can't believe this." Charmeleon said. "We beat Milotic's team… And maybe I could even get the reward offered by my country for these three."

Aamira looked around. "Where's the Grace-Seed?"

Charmeleon looked around also. "Where's Milotic?"

Aamira looked towards the mountains in the South-West. All that could be seen against the sky were a group of sparkling scales and a faint green-yellow glow. "Milotic can fly!"

Golduck laughed. "Don't you get it? This was all a test. Not only did we get information on both of you, but our leader got the Grace-Seed. We won."

"Yea? You don't look like a winner right now." Charmeleon said to him.

"Be that as it may… Prinplup was a bit useless though." Golduck lost consciousness before he could say anything else.

"AAMIRA!"

Aamira turned towards the voice. "It's Quill!"

"I have to go. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wouldn't complain if I ever had to fight along side you again." Charmeleon ran off in the same direction that Milotic had flown in.

"Aamira, are you alright?" Quill said. "Woa! You're soaked! What happened?"

"These two kind of interrupted my training. There was a third member too but it ran for the hills. Or… mountains I should say." Aamira grinned triumphantly.

"Uhuh…" Quill looked around skeptically. "And where did these burns come from?" He asked when he found Prinplup.

"I'm hungry…" She said, still smiling.

"Don't change the subject!" Quill said angrily. "Someone else was here! Who was it?"

'He would be able to tell if I was lying, but half truths…?' "Their third team member knows Dragonbreath." 'That's true… I didn't say that's what caused the burns though…'

"Woa… Their team member did this? They must have been brutal."

"Yea, but I pulled through!" Aamira's stomach growled. "Ehh…"

"Why are you so hungry?" Quill asked.

"Well, aside from just taking on three opponents, apparently Aura Sphere uses up my own energy, which I get from food."

"Aura Sphere." Gallade seemed to appear out of nowhere. "So you figured it out?"

"Yea! I was looking at it all wrong! I thought I did it when I was fighting Charmeleon, but it actually worked because I was defending Oddish. After that I remembered the feeling I got from using it."

Quill smiled. "That's great!" he looked at the stones that Aamira had been shattering earlier. "And apparently that's not the only thing you were practicing…"

Machop and Nuzleaf finally got onto the cliff. Both were on their last legs and breathing really heavily.

"They wanted to race here…" Gallade explained. "But, as they say, slow and steady wins the race… And wouldn't you know it? We got here first." Gallade faced Aamira. "So, let me see Aura Sphere. Give me your best shot!"

Aamira smirked and used the last of her energy to charge up another Aura Sphere, though it was weaker than the others. She threw it at Gallade and he hit it away with the blade on the end of one of his arms.

"Not bad." He said. "I suppose it will be stronger after you get something to eat."

Aamira watched the Aura Sphere as it flew through the air and disappeared in the distance. "Ha! Just like baseball!"

"What?" Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

"Oh, it's nothing."


	11. Chapter 11 Miming Around

Everyone stood around in Team Sleuth HQ's main floor and watched Aamira. She tossed a poke coin up this the air and it fell on the ground, spinning. It eventually stopped and landed face up.

"Heads?" Quill shouted.

"I guess that means we're doing patrol today!" Aamira smirked.

Quill glared at them. "Alright, let's go on patrol. We have to do a mission some time, you know."

Outside everyone was running around as happily and busily as ever. The few people that lived in the spark division headed out right away. Aipom swung out of a tree by her tail and hung in the air in front of them, scaring them all.

"Hiya!" She said. "Aamira, what happened to your eyes?"

Aamira blinked. "My eyes?"

"I thought they were orange before. Now they're a dark green." Aipom said curiously. "Weird…"

"They're still green? It happened yesterday when I was trying to learn Aura Sphere but I thought they would have turned back by now."

"Maybe it's some sort of side effect." Aipom jumped out of the tree and landed in front of them.

"It didn't happen the first time you used Aura Sphere." Quill said to Aamira. "That's a little strange, don't you think?"

Mankey jumped out of a tree and landed next to Aipom. "Come on. We have to go. Remember? Messenger duty?"

"Wait." Quill said. "Does that mean, you're an individual Investigation Team now?"

"Yep!" Aipom took out her new silver Aura Glass and flashed it in the early morning light. "Silver Rank! But isn't your team still Bronze Rank?"

The four members of Team Sleuth all looked back and fourth at each other nervously.

"I guess that makes us better than you again!" Mankey said. "Well see ya later!"

Aamira watched as they left, unable to believe they pulled ahead of them again. "We've… We've got to do a mission."

"Thank you!" Quill shouted.

Aamira, thinking this the perfect opportunity, turned to Machop and Nuzleaf. "But if we go on a mission only one of you can come with us incase we get a new recruit."

"I'll go wherever you go and defend you from all the horrible monsters!" Nuzleaf said.

"How pathetic." Machop sneered at him. "Still stuck on that prince charming thing from yesterday?"

"My grandpa's a simple herbalist. My dad was too, before he married Queen Bella from a distant kingdom. Technically, that makes me a prince!" Nuzleaf explained.

Machop's eyes widened in shock. He turned to Aamira. Aamira, also in shock and not knowing what to say turned to Quill. Quill didn't know what to say or do and just shrugged.

"Surprised you, didn't I?" Nuzleaf asked.

"What was your first clue?" Machop said angrily.

"But the thing is, I was born before my dad even met Queen Bella. My real mom died in a storm before I even hatched, so technically I'm only royalty by adoption."

"You really are stupid, aren't you?" Machop said. "You didn't have to tell us that much and everyone probably would have been bowing to you calling you 'your majesty' or something."

"But my foster mom sees me as a prince. If anyone gives me any trouble I could just get one of the guards to come here. Besides, I don't like the whole royalty thing. Tried it, didn't like it, moved in with my grandpa."

"Wow, so you're the modest type, huh?" Aamira smiled and forced herself to blush.

Machop noticed and couldn't suppress his anger anymore. He attacked Nuzleaf and the two of them started fighting, completely oblivious to anything happening around them. If a volcano erupted, they'd probably still continue to fight.

"Let's get out of here before they realize you tricked them." Quill said.

"So we've got some time to relax for once?" Aamira walked up to them. "Hey! Guess what! I tricked you two! Again!"

Nuzleaf and Machop continued fighting as if they hadn't even heard Aamira. Quill laughed and the two of them walked away.

"You know, it's pretty bad that they're so head over heels for you that they fight so much and don't even realize when you, of all people, are yelling right at them." Quill said a while later.

"Yep." Aamira looked at the map they found in a good looking mission. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Positive. It even said what pokemon are in the dungeon and they're all here." Quill pointed. "Celebi! I just saw it!"

Aamira looked in the direction Quill was pointing and turned back to him. "Quill, you have to stop doing this. Celebi lives in the forest and right now, we're in a cave." A Skiploom flew out from around the corner and flew around them. "See? It was probably just that Skiploom."

Quill looked a little gloomy. "Yea, I guess your right. I'm sorry; I should be paying more attention to the mission."

"So what are we here to do?" Aamira asked.

"A little kid got trapped beneath some falling rocks. Now we have to find the parent who should be waiting by the rocks so we can help get him out."

A Graveler came from around a corner and attacked Quill. Quill yelled in surprise. Aamira tried to use Aura Sphere, but it wouldn't come to her. Instead, she used quick attack and knocked the Graveler on its back.

"What happened?" Quill said. "Why didn't Aura Sphere work?"

Aamira looked sadly at her hands. "I don't know. It was working fine yesterday."

Quill looked at her eyes. "Would it have something to do with why your eyes changed color? They're back to orange now."

"They are?" Aamira remembered yesterday when she had taken the Grace-Seed. So many thoughts had rushed into her head at once that it made her dizzy and caused her to faint. She couldn't tell Quill about the Grace-Seed though, because that would mean revealing her new friendship with the wanted outlaw, Charmeleon. "I don't even know what caused the color to change in the first place."

"Are you sure you don't know?" It had been over two weeks ago that they had met and still Aamira wasn't used to Quill being able to read her emotions and tell when she was lying.

"Uhh… Oh yea. I remember now. You know when I touch something sometimes and I have a thought and suddenly know all about it?"

"When did that happen?" Quill asked.

"It happened a few times. When Chansey handed me that Aspair Berry when we first met a few weeks ago, I knew her nickname was Star when she was younger. Later that night I touched a book on my bookshelf and knew about Floatzel and how they're really good at doing water rescues. The next day at out Investigation team inauguration, I got frustrated and punched the ground and I suddenly knew how to get out. It's happened a few other times too. Some books I don't even have to read because I instantly know all about them just by touching them. Leafeon assumes I'm just browsing in the library sometimes, when I'm actually reading the books without reading them. I guess that's the best way to put it."

"Wait, so you have some sort of special ability? I never really thought much about it before, but I have noticed times when your emotions would change suddenly for no apparent reason and you would sort of space out. But this is so cool! Investigation Teams are all about learning new things! If you can learn things just by touching something, we might be able to become a really awesome Investigation Team."

"But it's not like I'm always having these thoughts or whatever. Most of the books in the library I've actually had to read. I've been trying to figure out a way to make it work, but it's as hard as Aura Sphere, maybe worse because sometimes it goes off when I don't want it to." Truth be told, Aamira didn't really want the ability to work either. Sometimes she would have horrible thoughts and even hear voices. If Quill knew this, he would be panic stricken for sure and she didn't want that.

"But what does this ability have to do with your eyes turning color?"

"I don't know, but after my eyes turned colors I was able to use Aura Sphere and my eyes turned color right after that ability happened."

"When you did your solo training, I fainted and thought something bad had happened to you. You were so panic stricken that I could even feel it all the way at the Dojo. Was that when your ability activated? And why did it activate and what were you thinking?"

"I think when you fainted that might have been when it happened, though I don't know for sure, but I fainted too so it's a pretty good guess. And it all happened so fast I don't even remember what I ended up thinking." For once she could tell the truth. Aamira felt horrible for lying to her only friend all the time, (Or using half truths since he could tell when she was lying.) so it was nice to be able to say something truthfully for once.

At the end of the Dungeon they found a Beautifly flying in a frenzy around a large rock pile. She turned and saw Team Sleuth and immediately calmed down upon noticing their Aura Glasses.

"An Investigation Team! Finally! You must know a way to get rid of these rocks without hurting my little Wurmple!"

"No problem!" Quill said. "Aamira's Force Palm can shatter rocks in an instant."

"I don't know." Aamira said. "It worked in the landslide during the storm in Jungle Overgrow because no pokemon were directly next to the rocks. When Muk got trapped under the rocks any of the pieces would just bounce off of him when they were shattered. I'm worried that I might accidentally hurt Wurmple if I tried that."

"My fire attacks are obviously out of the question…" Quill said desperately.

"It's a good thing I picked something up at the Keckleon Market before we headed out." Aamira pulled out a blue orb from her Collection Bag. "I read about orbs and I thought this one, A Blowback-Orb would be able to help us in a situation like this.

"Woa, good thinking Aamira!" Quill said happily.

"Thank you for being so considerate." Beautifly said. "Please be careful, though!"

Aamira threw the orb at the rocks and it shattered on impact. A strong gust of wind came from seemingly nowhere. It was so strong that Beautifly had to land and the wind lifted the rocks right off the ground and smashed them in the wall behind. Wurmple laid there curled up into a ball with a look of sheer terror on his face.

"Wurmple!" Without even bothering to take flight, Beautifly ran over to Wurmple and hugged him. "I was so worried about you!"

Quill looked up at the ceiling. There was a large hole, almost in a perfect circle. "This was a trap. Someone did this on purpose."

"Yup. We know." Wurmple said. "Someone stole our precious family gem. We chased them here and walked into the trap. It only got me though, so my mom was able to send a distress call."

"You should have told an Investigation Team right away." Quill said.

"We weren't thinking. How would you feel if your most prized possession was taken from you?" Beautifly asked.

Aamira remembered how desperate Charmeleon had seemed when he asked her to help him reignite his flame. Losing something like that must feel horrible. "We'll help you catch the thief!" She said. "Just tell us what he looked like."

"We aren't sure." Wurmple said. "He ran off so fast we could barely even see him. It could be anyone."

"Let's head back to the scene of the crime. Maybe then we'll be able to find some clues." Quill turned to Aamira suddenly. "This would be our first real investigation! Maybe that ability of yours would come in handy!"

"Maybe, if it would work." Aamira said thoughtfully.

Quill and Aamira were both surprised that Beautifly and Wurmple didn't live in a house, but an underground theatre! There was a large stone stage and cushions spread out everywhere for people to sit on.

"We're traveling performers." Beautifly said. "We prefer it in Vine City, but we go everywhere. To different countries and everything! We don't do it for fame, of course, but there's usually always a big uproar when people learn that we're back in town. That's why it could literally be anyone that took our gem."

"We were trying to think of a play to put on using our ruby as a prop, but we couldn't think of anything. We left for a while and didn't think much about if we left the stage unlocked for a few minutes while we went to get lunch. After we got back, all the torches were out. After finally igniting them all again, we found out that our ruby was missing."

Quill looked at the stage through his Aura Glass and gasped. "There are so many footprints!"

"But of course." Beautifly said. "Two actors, a play does not make."

"How soon do you think you can get the rest of the actors here?" Aamira asked.

"In a few minutes. If it's absolutely necessary, I'll go immediately." Beautifly flew into the air.

"I'll stay here and make sure they don't touch anything important." Wurmple said. With that Beautifly flew off.

A few minutes later the theatre had filled with all the pokemon actors. Quill and Aamira divided the group in half and split up the work of figuring out who might have taken the ruby.

"It would seem," Quill said, "that there are only three types of footprints that lead to the pedestal where the ruby was being kept. Two of them were beautifly and Wurmple's. The last one is small and circular shaped."

"That would mean that our suspects would be Turtwig and Skitty." Aamira said. "You're both the only ones with circular feet like that."

Everyone looked accusingly at Turtwig and Skitty.

"Just give the gem back, whichever one of you took it!" Someone shouted. The crowd started yelling at the two of them and Turtwig and Skitty didn't know which way to turn.

Quill flared up and made all of them jump back and instantly fall silent. "Enough! We don't know for sure if either of them did it, they're just our prime suspects."

Aamira looked at the ground where their feet had been with her Aura Glass and looked at their footprints. She looked next to the pedestal at the other footprints. "Turtwig's are way too big, but Skitty's are a perfect match."

Everyone looked threateningly at Skitty, but no one started shouting like last time.

Quill held up his Aura Glass and looked at the footprints. "No, wait. They look the same, but the ones near the pedestal are darker. That means that whoever made these footprints would be slightly heavier."

Skitty giggled cutely. "I guess it's a good thing I went on that diet!"

Everyone laughed. One thing they found out: Skitty was definitely the star of any of the comedy acts.

"But wait!" Aamira said. "That means no one here could have been the one who stole the ruby!"

"Are you sure this is everyone?" Quill asked. "Do you remember anyone else with feet like Skitty's?"

"Wait, mama!" Wurmple said. "There was someone! That Mime Jr.! Remember how he was spinning around and around on his feet?"

"Yes! You're right." Beautifly said. "Oh, but this is a problem."

"Why so?" Quill asked.

"There's a whole village of Mime Jr.s." Beautifly said. "We put on a show there. 'The Jester Prince' I believe it was called. One of our more brilliant ones, if I do say so myself. Anyway, they come from a place called Jester Village in a kingdom down south. It's technically in Sylva, but it's more outlandish since Noctowl is Sylva's leader. They pretty much do whatever they want and act on their own."

"Wait, a kingdom?" Aamira said. "I think we should pay Nuzleaf a visit before we go."

"I'm going too!" Wurmple said. "You might need my help. I can remember what one suspicious Mime Jr. was like, but the whole city is filled with them. It's okay, right mom?"

"Of course! Of course! We must get our gem back. Just be careful."

"Don't worry." Quill said with a grin. "We won't let anything bad happen to him."

The three of them headed over to their Treehouse to find Nuzleaf and Machop arguing again.

"You're way out of your league!" Machop said. "Just admit it."

"Ha! Yea right!" Nuzleaf said. "You forgot I'm technically a prince."

"Hiya Prince Nuzleaf!" Wurmple said.

Nuzleaf looked towards Wurmple and smiled. "Well, if it isn't wormy Wurmple! You and your mom finally get back?"

"No, we've been back and left again. We went back to your kingdom a while ago and came back again just recently." Wurmple said. "Anyway, listen. We think one of the Mime Jr.s might have stolen our ruby gem and we have to go find it. Do you think you can help?"

"Well of course I'll help you and your mom!"

"Hello? I'm here too you know?" Aamira said.

Nuzleaf looked up. "Oh, hiya! Yea, I want to help you too!"

Machop scowled at him. "You didn't even notice her when she walked right up to you!"

"Well it would be rude to ignore a little kid like Wurmple." Nuzleaf said. "Of course I would have to act like a prince now that I'm going back home for a while. Citizens first, family and friends second, as my mom says."

"That's so selfish!" Machop yelled so loudly that Wurmple hid behind Nuzleaf.

"You wouldn't understand." Nuzleaf said.

A few minutes later, three of the four Team Sleuth members left with Wurmple in toe. Later that evening, they spotted the castle that sat in the middle of a lake. It was made of stone, which was rare for the buildings in Sylva. According to Nuzleaf, it was an ancient building that was already there by the time their kingdom had moved to this location. It was constantly being checked to make sure it was safe and that none of the stones would crumble.

At a small town a few miles away from the castle, a Mr. Mime greeted them. "Welcome to Jester Village." He bowed to the four of them. "Please take the time to watch some of our performers on your way to the castle." He looked up and noticed Nuzleaf. "Prince Nuzleaf! To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"I joined an Investigation Team." Nuzleaf said. "These two are Aamira and Quill, and I believe you've met Wurmple?"

"Ah yes. He and his mom came to perform a play not too long ago. So to what do we owe THIS pleasure?"

"Our ruby was stolen and we think it was a Mime Jr. that did it."

"Not him again!" Mr. Mime shook his head. "A trouble maker's been going around lately. But all Mime Jr. look alike, and they're great actors, so it's impossible to tell who's who. I think you better follow me straight to the castle for this one."

Over half an hour later, they reached the castle. Inside the walls was a whole town and market place with the castle in the heart of it all. Some of the townspeople were gathered around a group of Mime Jr. who were all balancing spinning plates on sticks on their noses and doing acrobatic tricks at the same time.

"Talented, aren't they?" Mr. Mime asked. "That's why I hate this trouble maker going around."

An especially talented Mime Jr. flipped into the air and landed on the palms of some other Mime Jr.s. He took off his hat and bowed. All the Mime Jr. flipped and landed on the ground.

"Ah, there's my son. The leader of the acrobatic group. TAL!"

The Mime Jr. looked in the direction of Mr. Mime, smiled, and ran over with his team right behind. "Dad. What are you doing here? On your way to the castle?" He noticed Wurmple. "Oh, and if it isn't my co-star from the last play. Nice to see you again. Oh, and Prince Nuzleaf and an Investigation Team too." He took off his hat again and bowed. "I hope you're here to stop the mime prankster."

"So how much has happened because of this Mime Jr.?" Aamira asked.

"How much!" He said sarcastically. "HA! Just last week he dug a pitfall before one of my team's performances. After we did the tower you just witnessed, the ground gave way. It took us a while to recover from that one. And what did he do? Just stood over the pitfall and laughed. Haha HA! Some people gave chase, but when he turned a corner, he disappeared among some other Mime Jr. and got away yet again."

"He's such a good actor, he could probably even be Tal and I wouldn't know it." Mr. Mime said. "Some people even think he's the one responsible for the attempted assassinations of Bella and Leef."

"My parents!" Nuzleaf yelled. "I have to get to the castle!" Nuzleaf ran off and everyone else followed. To their annoyance, everyone realized that all the Mime Jr. were following and even copying the way they were running. The only one running like a Mime Jr. was Tal.

The guards let them in right away upon recognizing Nuzleaf. They all followed Nuzleaf to the throne room where another Nuzleaf and a Bayleef were talking to a large group of pokemon.

"Please, now. One at a time!" The Bayleef looked really tired and weak. She looked up and all her strength seemed to come back. "Nuzleaf! You came home!"

The crowd turned and parted down the middle to make way for Team Sleuth and the Mime Jr. Nuzleaf instantly ran up to his parents. "Mom! Dad!"

"I heard you had evolved." His dad, who they assumed was Leef, said. "You've become an amazingly strong Nuzleaf, that's for sure, but I was almost tempted to call you Seedot out of habit."

"Enough about that! Why didn't you send me a message about what's been happening? A rouge Mime Jr. and stories about attempted assassinations?" The crowd behind Nuzleaf started murmuring uneasily.

"Don't let it bother you." Queen Bella said to him. "You should probably go back home."

"Sorry mom, but Team Sleuth has a mission to finish and you're not the one who gave it to us."

Bella and Leef looked passed him at the other Team members, Wurmple, Mr. Mime, and the group of Mime Jr., who had mimicked the king and Queen by looking out to the crowd on either side. Aamira and Quill couldn't help but smile at the group of cute jester pokemon. It was hard to imagine that one of them could really be a threat to anyone.

"Fair enough. Team Sleuth members, would you come up here?" Bella asked.

Aamira and Quill walked up the stairs towards the king and queen. The Mime Jr. mimicked them as they walked, but respectfully stopped at the steps.

"I think I kind of like those cute little mimes following us everywhere." Aamira said happily.

"Team Sleuth, was it?" Bella asked. "Nuzleaf has told me a lot about the two of you in his letters, Aamira and Quill. We thank you both for taking care of Nuzleaf, especially during that storm. If you two are as good as he says you are we would be honored if you helped us with our Mime Jr. problem."

"Of course." Quill said. "That Mime Jr. stole a prized gem from Wurmple and his mom. We came to find him and get it back, so of course we'll help."

"Thank you." Leaf said. "And of course there will be a generous reward if you can capture the thief. So that's how it is everyone. As much as we've tried to assure you that we're doing all we can, an Investigation Team can do more. Let them take care of our Mime Jr. problem for us."

The group of pokemon applauded for them and started to disband from the throne room. Bella groaned and laid down right where she had been standing. A few pokemon that were still in the room ran over and helped her up. (The Mime Jr. mimicked this, of course, which surprisingly made Bella laugh.)

"Are you alright, Queen Bella?" a Chansey asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. We didn't have a chance to take our medication today." Bella said.

"Neither of you?" Chansey ran into a different room and came back with some pills for both Leef and Bella. "You know you shouldn't be so reckless in your condition."

"Of course. And the sooner this Mime Jr. is caught, the better." Leef said.

"What's wrong with both of you?" Quill asked.

"We were both born with a horrible disease." Bella said. "I actually met Leef when I came to his dad's house to get some herbs to make medicine from. He just happened to be there for the same reason."

"And what a wonderful coincidence it was." Leef said with a smile. "Our disease keeps us from gaining much energy, so we both become tired really quickly. If either of us fell asleep from losing too much energy, we would die. Only some special herbs grounded into these pills can give us a sufficient amount of energy, and even then we can't move much without becoming tired."

"That's horrible." Aamira said. "And pokemon are trying to assassinate a couple of helpless pokemon who can barely even move?"

"Sad isn't it?" Bella asked. "I guess some pokemon are starting to think we're all washed up if we can't even handle a mischievous little Mime Jr."

"Maybe I should take over." Nuzleaf suggested. "Not permanently, but for a while. Pokemon might have more confidence in me since I'm an Investigation Team member."

"I don't think you should." Aamira said. "They could just as well think that Vine City is trying to take control of this kingdom and make it a true part of Sylva. They might also think you might have had something to do with the assassination attempts after conveniently showing up and not knowing anything about it and suddenly becoming king. And besides, if they're after the rulers of this kingdom for another reason, that might also put you in danger."

"How well thought out!" Bella said. "I can see why you like her so much, Nuzleaf!"

Nuzleaf blushed. "Mom! Stop it!"

It was getting late. Before heading to bed, they all devised a plan. According to Mr. Mime and Tal, the rouge Mime Jr. was a good actor, but otherwise talentless. He couldn't do anything except lie, steal, and act. That cleared the names of all the Mime Jr. with them since they were such good acrobats. The next morning, the acrobatic team would wait in a room filled with other Mime Jr. whose names had been cleared while they sorted out the rest of them. They still didn't know how they would go about doing this, but that could wait for tomorrow.

The king and queen generously let them stay in a few of the extra bedrooms. Wurmple seemed a little upset, seeing as how he hadn't gotten the chance to do much yet. That night, though, Quill and Aamira were both worried. They already had to give half of their reward money to Vine City for not telling anyone where they were going when they weren't an individual team yet and they almost didn't make it. Beautifly knew where they had gone, along with the other actors, and they were an individual team now, but the rules could be so confusing sometimes, who knows what might happen.

Aamira also realized this was pretty much the first night she hadn't slept in her own room aside from when they got trapped in that storm. She found it impossible to fall asleep without her special pillow that Quill and Aamira had both gotten on their first patrol, so she made up a song and started singing to herself.

Aamira wondered if she had known the song already. It seemed like she knew it, but the words were so strange that she wasn't even sure what they meant. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to think about it before falling asleep.


	12. Chapter 12 Project Paradox

Aamira woke up suddenly at the sound of thunder and looked around, panicked. She looked around and tried to figure out where she was. Quill came into the room with the same panic stricken look on his face. 

"Quill!" Aamira said, running over to him. "What's going on? Where are we?" 

Quill's expression turned calmer. "Oh, is that all it is? Don't you remember? We're in Nuzleaf's parents' castle. We're here on a mission involving a thieving Mime Jr." 

Aamira stared at him blankly, then suddenly remembered. "Oh, right. Sorry about that. I was having a nightmare and the thunder woke me up, so I guess I wasn't really thinking." 

"It's about time we should be getting up anyway. It's hard to tell because of the storm, but it's about the time we usually get up. Everyone in the castle, including Nuzleaf, have been up for a while now. The Mime Jr. are all rushing in to get out of the rain." 

"That's right, we still need to figure out how to tell which one of them is the thief." 

"Yea. The other pokemon already figured out who couldn't be it. I passed by a room filled with a bunch of happy looking Mime Jr.s on the way here. Of course those with any special talents, like the acrobats, wouldn't be the thief, because all the thief is good at is lying and stealing."

"That gives me an idea. Let's head to the throne room. All the other Mime Jr. should be there." Aamira led the way down stairs where a bunch of pokemon had gathered to watch. Quill and Aamira were half surprised and half expected there to be such a large crowd. In the middle of the room were the suspected Mime Jr. A few were still twirling around without a care in the world, either knowing they wouldn't get in trouble or one of them was actually the thief and didn't think they would be able to tell them apart. The other half was the exact opposite. They were either worried they would be convicted for something they didn't do, or one of them was the thief and was worried he would be discovered. 

Nuzleaf, Wurmple, Mr. Mime, and even Tal, their new Mime Jr. friend, were all waiting on the throne-platform with queen Bella, and king Leef. 

"Have you thought of a way to figure out who's the thief?" Bella asked them. 

"I think I might have." Aamira turned to Tal. "Yesterday you said that all the thief was good at was acting, stealing, and lying. Would this mean that every other Mime Jr. doesn't lie?" 

"But of course." Tal said. "We're honest and innocent, except for one of us of course, and the only time we don't tell the truth is when we're acting. In fact, we're so honest, that we always let people know that what we're doing is merely an act." 

"Someone could really be that honest?" Quill asked. "That's sort of admirable." 

"I think I know where you're going with this." Tal said. "We've already separated any of the actors that are obviously just actors. They were all obviously honest, so only these nine Mime Jr. are left. We don't know where to go from here." 

"Figures. Looks like we've hit another dead end. Or were you thinking of something else?" Quill asked.

"I was thinking of something else." Aamira said. "But it will save a lot of time separating the obviously honest Mime Jr. from the rest of them." She pulled out her aura glass and looked at the Mime Jr.'s footprints. "They're all the same height and their footprints are all the same except for that Mime Jr. on the end." The one she had indicated was one of the happy ones that had still been spinning around. He stopped instantly and looked around terrified. Aamira measured his footprints like she did with the others. "His footprints are too small. Not to say I'm disappointed about that, if one so young as thing one had been the thief that would be devastating, but it definitely would have been easier if we could just single them out based on their footprint size."

The Mime Jr. sighed in relief. "So what should I do now?" 

"Why don't you go wait on the platform with Tal and Mr. Mime?" Quill said and the Mime Jr. did so and immediately started dancing again. "Well at least one good thing came from that. Now we're down to eight. I feel good working with an even number like that."

"I have an idea." Wurmple walked down the stairs on the platform and stood with Aamira and Quill. "Okay, all of you line up in two rows of four." 

"I don't really see where you're going with this." Aamira said. "I was thinking of a question and answer thing. What will lining them up do?" 

"It's just to keep them organized." Wurmple explained. "And my idea is a question and answer thing. Sort of. Wait, this will never work. Does anyone have a notepad or something I can write on?" 

"Oh, I do." Quill took it out and handed it and a pencil to Wurmple. "I thought it might come in handy so I brought it with us." 

"On second thought, Aamira, I need you to keep track of their names and responses to the questions." Wurmple handed the notepad to her. "I won't be able to think straight doing two things at once."

"Alright, that's fine." Aamira said.

The only good thing about a bunch of Mime Jr. living in one place was that they all had to have names to tell them apart. Most pokemon didn't have names because it became either too problematic or too hard to think of a name that wouldn't end up with any consequences, like it meaning something bad in a different language or people making fun of someone with a funny name.

Aamira wrote all the names in the notebook in a sort of chart in the order the Mime Jr. were standing in. In the back row were Shinko, Mika, Rolland, and Julie. In the front row were Adam, Jake, Rosa, and Rob. Unfortunately, when the thief was rarely seen, people didn't have enough time to figure out if it was a male or female before it ran off, so they were still all suspects. 

"Okay, we'll start with Shinko." Wurmple said. 

"Me?" Shinko looked around nervously. 

"Shinko, who do you think would be the thief?" Wurmple asked. 

Quill looked at Wurmple confused. "Wait, what if Shinko is the thief? He would just lie and say it was someone else." 

"Hey! I'm no liar!" Shinko yelled at him. "I haven't the slightest idea who it is, but it's not me. Everyone here seems a little sketchy to me, except Julie. She's my best friend. She's no liar, that's for sure."

"I feel the same way about Shinko! And I know Adam would never lie either." Julie said. 

'I see where this is going now.' Aamira added onto her chart with two columns. One was for obviously honest Mime Jr. and the other was for possible liars. "Would it be appropriate to call our plan, 'Project Paradox'?" 

"Oh! That's perfect!" Wurmple said. "Project Paradox!" 

"Hmph! I don't know about what Shinko said." Rolland said. "I'm almost confident it's either Julie or Mika."

"Me!" Mika said outraged. "Okay, I can see why you might think that. I did steal from my brother once, but I felt horrible and gave back what I stole the next day with a hearty apology. If you ask me, it's either Jake or Rolland. Sorry Rolland, but I'm just being honest here." 

"What about you, Adam?" Wurmple said. "Who do you think it is?" 

"It's not Rob!" Adam said. "He's been with me during nearly all of the thefts claiming that people would think it was him because of his name. Sorry, I don't know any more than that."

"That's fine." Wurmple said. "Rosa, what do you think?" 

Rosa thought for a moment. "I don't know a lot of the people here. Actually, it's because of that I'm surprised no one thought it was me. But based on what everyone else has been saying, I'd have to go with either Jake or Adam. That's just how I honestly feel." 

"I'm next right?" Rob asked. "Either Jake or Rolland for sure." 

Aamira looked over the chart. "Wait… Oh, this isn't good." 

"What is it? What is it?" All the Mime Jr. said at the same time. 

"According to this it can be one of two people." Aamira said. Everyone jumped in shock, even Wurmple.

"There aren't two thieves, are there?" Someone in the crowd asked. 

"No, I don't think so." Aamira said. "But we could only narrow it down to two people. Everyone except Jake and Rolland can go join Tal and Mr. Mime."

Everyone cheered for them for successfully narrowing it down to two Mime Jr. 

"Oh, I get it now!" Quill said. "It was a process of elimination thing. If someone said someone else was obviously telling the truth, that means they were too because if they were lying the one they said was telling the truth would also have to be a liar. Since there's only one liar, anyone that said someone else was telling the truth must have been telling the truth also." 

"Right." Wurmple said. "And we couldn't tell you because if the real thief knew what we were doing, he might just have said he thought someone was telling the truth just to get out of trouble. Of course now it doesn't matter, because we've gone through everyone and we can't do it again with only two Mime Jr." 

"This is a big problem for us though." Aamira said. "Of course by now the one that's telling the truth knows who the real thief is." 

"It's him!" Both said at the same time pointing to the other. 

"But even if the one telling the truth told us who it was, we wouldn't know because the liar would just lie and say the one telling the truth was the liar." Aamira finished. 

"This is getting too confusing for me." Wurmple said. 

"Oh! I think I've heard a riddle like this once!" Quill said. 

"A riddle?" Leef said. "I love riddles. I bet I could solve it if you told it to me." 

"Okay." Quill said. "A Diglett was going to visit his uncle Dugtrio. Dugtrio was really honest and had moved to a city that was filled with honest people who never lie. Unfortunately, there was a village of liars right next to the village of truth tellers. When Diglett reached the crossroad between the two villages, he realized his uncle had forgotten to tell him which way to go. Fortunately for him, there was a Starly at the crossroads. Surely Starly would know which way he should go. But there was a problem: Diglett didn't know if Starly was from the village of liars, or from the village of truth tellers. Diglett was running late and only had time to ask him one question and know for sure which way to go. He made it safely to the village of truth tellers just in time. How did he do it?" 

Leef thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. "He would ask the Starly to lead him to the Starly's own village. If Starly was a liar, he would have lied and took him to the village of truth tellers. If he told the truth, Starly would have taken Diglett to the village of truth tellers anyway, because that would be telling the truth." 

"You got it!" Quill said excitedly. "So that's all we have to do with them." 

"But there's a problem." Bella said. "We can't ask them directions or anything like the way it happened in the story, so how does that work?" 

"I have another idea!" Wurmple said. "Jake, you point to the one that's telling the truth, and Rolland, you point to the liar." Both of them pointed at Jake. "That means Jake's the lair!" 

Everyone went into an uproar and started yelling at Jake. 

"No! It's not me!" Jake yelled over everyone. 

"You liar!" Rolland yelled over Jake's voice.

"Wait! Stop!" Aamira yelled loud enough to cause everyone to go silent. "There's a flaw in your plan, unfortunately. I'm not saying Jake is the thief or not, but I'm afraid you idea won't work. In Quill's story, there was only one person the Diglett could ask for directions. Now there are two of them." 

"How does that change anything exactly?" Bella asked. "Please explain." 

The crowd murmured in agreement.

"It would be easier to show you than to explain it." Aamira said. "Okay, both of you do the same thing as before, except this time, Jake should point to the liar and Rolland should point to the one that's telling the truth." Both of them pointed to Rolland. "You see? If phrased that way, it makes it seem like Rolland's the thief." 

"So we're back to square one?" Wurmple asked. 

"Not exactly." Aamira said. "I've been wondering from the start if there could be more than one thief. Their differing actions just now prove that only one of them could be the real liar, though we still don't know who that is." 

"Then… Then it was helpful?" Wurmple asked. 

"Yea, I had been wondering about that too." Quill said. "With all of these Mime Jr. and no one knowing who it was, why couldn't there be more than one thief? So good job, Wurmple."

"Okay, let's try to rethink Project Paradox." Aamira said. She sat down on the floor with her legs crossed and tried to think of a new plan. Quill and Wurmple had used up all of their ideas and couldn't think of anything else. No one else in the room really knew what to do and didn't offer any help. After a while Aamira sighed and stood up. "Maybe it would just be best if we convicted both of them."

"WHAT!" Everyone jumped in surprise. 

"Well, yea. I mean, we came here to catch a thief and if we just convict them both technically, there's no way we couldn't have caught the thief." Aamira said. 

"How could you say that!" Quill said. 

"I don't know." Aamira looked at the high up ceiling. "This is so frustrating. Truthfully, I don't even remember how this all started." 

"How could you not!" Wurmple said, outraged. "You started this to find out who stole our ruby from the stage!" 

"It wasn't me!" Both Mime Jr. said at the same time. 

"I don't really see what difference it would make though." Aamira closed her eyes thoughtfully. "I might even be tempted to steal such a shiny, valuable, and easily stolen gem like Wurmple's. Either of you could have, and I'd bet either of you would have if the opportunity came along." 

Jake cracked into a wide smile and started jumping excitedly from foot to foot. "Pretty, Shiny, valuable gems! Oh I just love them so much!" 

Everyone jumped. There were shouts of, "Jakes the thief!" and "I knew it was him!" from all across the room.

Jake realized what he had said and looked around nervously. "No! No! You've made a mistake! Please, believe me!"

"Why should we believe you?" Someone shouted.

"I told you I wasn't the thief!" Rolland shouted. "I don't even get why people like those giant flashy gems anyway!" 

Aamira smirked, opened her eyes, and pointed towards Rolland. "Gotcha!" 

"WHAT!" Everyone jumped in surprise except for Quill, who had obviously seen it coming. 

"What? But, how?" Bella asked. 

Aamira smirked again. "Simple! I lied to catch a liar!" 

Everyone looked around confused. Jake was breathing really hard and Rolland didn't seem to be breathing at all. 

"I can tell when Aamira lies." Quill said. "As soon as she said 'I don't even remember how this all started' I knew she had something up her sleeve! I think I even get how this works." 

"Please explain." Leef asked. "We don't understand how you know for sure, and we'd like to know for sure also." 

"Again, it's simple." Aamira said. "Just answer this question: Why would a thief steal something he doesn't want?" 

"He wouldn't!" Wurmple answered. 

"If Jake was a liar and a thief, when he said he liked gems, he would have meant he didn't like them. In that case if he was the thief, he would have taken something he didn't even want." Quill said. "Rolland, on the other hand, could only lie so no one would know he really stole it. Since the only obvious solution after Jake said he loved gems would have been for Rolland to be the real thief, his lie was technically as good as a confession." 

"But there were a couple of ways it wouldn't work." Wurmple said. "What if Jake said he didn't like gems because he was afraid everyone would think he was the thief? And what if Rolland hadn't said anything after Jake? Even worse, what if neither of them said anything at all?" 

"I set a trap, in a way." Aamira said. "See, this time it was Rolland that fell into a trap instead of all the people he stole from. Ironic if you think about it. Anyway, first I used words like 'shiny' and 'valuable' to entice one of them to go crazy about the stolen ruby. Of course, the thief would be on his guard and wouldn't have fallen for it, so in a way it was like a double trap. Also, Jake couldn't have lied because it was against his nature. Remember, Tal said that all Mime Jr. were truthful except for one. Even if he wanted to lie and say he didn't like gems, he wouldn't have been able to. 

"Lastly, Rolland's unwilling confession was actually just a bonus. I knew right after Jake's reaction that Rolland must be the thief, but this way he gave us evidence. Thieves often get cocky when they think they're in the clear and often do what I call the 'victory gloat' when they accidentally, or intentionally as it is sometimes, admit to what they've done. Either way, there was no way we wouldn't have been able to figure out who the thief was this way, because it works with either one of them based on their individual behaviors." 

"Wait, so because you sort of set one trap on top of the other, one being a trap not meant for the thief that actually laid the other trap, that would make this a real paradox! So Project Paradox was a good name after all!"

Jake sighed in relief and ran up to join the other Mime Jr. Everyone glared angrily at Rolland. Rolland looked around hopelessly and desperately. "Come on! You've got the wrong person! Just admit it and I promise I won't hold a grudge. It could even be a Mime Jr. not in this room for all we know!" 

"But you and Jake proved one of you had to be a liar by your earlier reactions to the idea that Wurmple had. And now, Aamira's proven that not only are you the thief, but Jake was telling the truth all along." Quill said to sum everything up. "This one's for everyone. Point to the liar!" 

Rolland was practically crying. "No! You've got it all wrong! I'm not the thief, I swear I'm not!"

"You know, I'm not entirely convinced." Bella said. "Maybe the liar wouldn't always lie? Being reminded of something valuable he stole might have been enough to excite him like with Jake. And maybe Rolland really does think that rubies are too flashy." Rolland looked up at the queen gratefully. 

"So we need more evidence?" Aamira asked. "That was my last idea though…"

"Wait, I have an idea!" Quill said. "Maybe that ability of yours would come in handy here!"

"Ability?" Leef asked.

"Riolu have the ability to sense aura by touching something or someone, so I might be able to tell for sure. I'm no master though, so it doesn't guarantee that anything will happen." Aamira said.

"Well try it anyway." Quill said. "We have more to lose by not trying, right?"

"I guess so." Aamira walked up to Rolland and touched his head. 'The loose tile under the king's throne where the thief hides his loot.' "Oh, you've got to be kidding me…"

"It didn't work?" Wurmple asked.

"No, it's not that… Uh, Leef? Could you check under the tile beneath your throne?" 

Everyone looked towards Leef. He jumped off his throne and lifted a loose tile. Sure enough, there was a large hole under it. After a few minutes of struggling, he pulled out a large brown bag filled to the brim. He spilled the contents on the floor. Inside the bag were some toy, some props for the Mime Jr.'s acts, some food, and some other things including a giant red ruby. 

"My ruby!" Wurmple ran faster than any Wurmple had before and picked up his ruby. "You found our ruby for us!" His eyes filled with tears. "H-How could I ever repay you?"

"Never mind that." Quill said. "We need to get you home and get Rolland to prison." 

Rolland ran towards the pile of stolen items and picked up an orb. He threw it at the ground and shattered it, causing a blinding light to fill the room followed by the sound of panicked screams from the onlookers. When the light dimmed, they saw that the guards had surrounded Rolland and prevented him from using the flash to escape. If this attempt at escaping wasn't evidence enough, then they didn't know what would have been. 

Everyone ran down from the platform except Bella and Leef who were still trying to avoid moving. Their two guards, a couple of Rhydon, moved in front of the platform. The other Mime Jr. joined them from the other room and soon everyone, including Wurmple, had their stolen items returned. 

"Good for you, Wurmple! You got your Ruby back!" Mr. Mime said. 

"Thank you! Thank you! For catching the thief!" All the Mime Jr., even Tal, did a little dance for them."

"You've really impressed my parents." Nuzleaf turned to his parents who were smiling proudly at them. "I think they're really confident now that nothing bad will happen to me. You both have their complete trust." 

"All's well that ends well." Tal said. 

"It doesn't feel real for some reason." Nuzleaf said. "Maybe because this hit so close to home." 

Something seemed to make Aamira glanced to the hallway at their right. While everyone else was talking excitedly, the shadow raised its arm in the air. Suddenly Aamira ran off towards the platform. A few people screamed. After all of this, Aamira was attacking the king and queen! The sound of an arrow reached Aamira's ears. She landed in front of the king and queen and raised her arm to deflect it off of the bone of her hand. Somehow the arrow pierced her bone and Aamira fell to the ground with an ear splitting scream. Everyone looked in the direction the arrow had come from and saw the shadow. Quill and one of the Rhydon ran after it. 

Nuzleaf ran up the stairs to the platform and kneeled down next to Aamira. "Don't move and try to relax. The arrowhead has poison in it and it will only spread quicker if you stay so tense."

Bella rose to her feet. "Rhydon! Clear the room, quickly!" The remaining Rhydon began directing everyone towards the exit while Nuzleaf looked at the arrow lodged into Aamira's bone.

"I've treated a wound like this before." Leef said. "I don't have enough energy. Nuzleaf, do exactly as I say."

For the next fifteen minutes, Leef gave instructions to his son on how to treat the wound. The poison added to the already unbearable pain. In spite of this, Aamira tried to remain calm and still. Finally Nuzleaf tightly bandaged up her arm and put it into a sling. 

"That will do until you get her to Chansey in Vine City. She'll even be able to heal the hole in your bone." Leef said. "It should be healed by later tonight with Chansey's skill." 

Nuzleaf laughed nervously. "I'm not sure if I should hug you or break your other arm. That was the most reckless thing I had ever seen. On the other hand, you saved my parents. That shadowy guy could have easily fired an arrow at one of them and then the other without anyone knowing what had happened, but after you made that uproar everyone looked immediately when you had been hit with the arrow." Nuzleaf hugged her. "Okay, I'll break your other arm later." 

Aamira didn't really know what to do. "What about Quill! He just ran off after that guy that hit me with the arrow." 

At that instant Quill and Rhydon came back into the room, both looking discouraged. 

"The attacker flew out a window." Quill explained. "Neither of us have wings, so we couldn't do anything." 

After a while, Nuzleaf, Aamira, Quill, Wurmple, escorted Rolland back to Vine City. Though a skilled thief, he wasn't strong enough to dare trying to run off again without any items to help him. It had been a shocking end to their adventure, but it was pretty good for their first real investigation. Halfway through the forest on their way home, they met up with Beautifly who had decided to come after them when she got worried. She was relieved to see everyone, for the most part, unharmed. 

"And you got our ruby back?" Beautifly asked. 

"Of course." Aamira said. "I put it in my bag for Wurmple." Aamira pulled it out and showed it to Beautifly. 

"Thank you so much!" she said. "Now we can get back to thinking of a play where we can use our ruby as a prop!" 

Aamira handed the Beautifly the ruby. 'Project Paradox: Team Sleuth and the Ruby caper.' 

Quill looked up at her. He obviously had figured out that her ability, whatever it was, had gone off. 

"Ohh…" Aamira said with a shocked expression. "So THAT'S how this adventure ends!" Aamira turned to Beautifly and Wurmple. "Here's a paradox for you: A play about two people trying to come up with an idea for a play." 

Two hours later, Aamira's arm was already mostly healed, thanks to Chansey. It was a full-house and everyone in Vine City had showed up to watch Beautifly and Wurmple's new play. They had found a way to use the ruby as a prop, though not as expected. The beginning of the play was even a bit strange because the story had started out on the stage.

Finally the end had come and everyone was excited to see how it would end. A lot of the people that had been there came to perform in the play. The smaller Mime Jr., who hadn't really played much of a part in finding out who the thief was, had even come to play the part of Rolland. No one that was there wanted to go through the attack again, so they decided to leave the real ending out. Beautifly wouldn't tell them how she planned to end the play. When Aamira and Quill asked her how they would know what to do at the end if she didn't tell them, she simply said, "Nothing can be planned perfectly. When something happens that an actor isn't prepared for, they simply go with the flow." 

"How could we ever thank you?" The actor playing Bella, who they recognized at the Bayleef from Jungle Overgrow, asked.

"Are you kidding?" Quill asked. "This was our first real investigation. That's good enough for us!" 

"But you've done so much for all of us!" Beautifly said while she hovered above them with the ruby in her hands. "Surely there's something we can do." 

"You really don't have to." Aamira said. "Technically we already finished your mission a while ago when we rescued Wurmple from under those rocks and you gave us our reward for that already."

"I think I know the perfect reward for them." Everyone turned to the left side of the stage. To everyone's surprise, including the actors, Noctowl walked up the stairs carrying a wooden box up in front of him. 

He set the box down in front of Aamira and Quill and opened the lid. Both of them looked into the box with the most surprised look anyone had ever seen an actor have during a play. Aamira and Quill each lifted a silver Aura Glass out of the box and faced the audience nervously. The two of them did their Investigation Team pose, holding their new silver Aura Glasses high above their heads. The crowd cheered. Aamira and Quill both looked up proudly at their silver Aura Glasses, which shone brilliantly in the stage lights.


	13. Chapter 13 Stuff of Legend

Aamira woke up with a content yawn the next day. After yesterday, they had decided to take the day off. Her hand was throbbing horribly and, even thought it looked as good as new, aside from a white mark where the bone had been healed with Calcium, it would probably take a while for it to completely heal. Aamira picked her silver Aura Glass off the desk and admired it for a moment. She wasn't used to it. Not only was it a different color that usual, but it was shiny. Most Aura Glasses became dull really quickly after they were earned because of all the adventures Investigation Teams went on.

Aamira looked out her window. It was only dawn. They had all gotten so used to getting up early to do missions that they were even waking up early on their day off now. Aamira became a little irritated and climbed back onto her hammock and fell back to sleep.

A few hours later Quill woke up. His comfortable, dark, and extremely hot room was now starting to cool and lights starting to come in through the window. He woke up groggily and just laid on his stomach on his still warm coal bed. Aamira yelled from in her room and Quill jumped up and ran to see what was happening.

Standing outside Aamira's room were Machop and Nuzleaf.

"Oh, what did you two do this time?" Quill snapped at them.

"I haven't done anything!" Machop said. "I heard Aamira scream and came running."

"I would never do something to someone that's injured, least of all Aamira." Nuzleaf said.

"Ha! Yea right!" Machop said. "If I had been there, she wouldn't have even gotten hurt in the first place!"

"What did you say!" Nuzleaf shouted back at him.

"Yea, you heard me!"

"Quit!" Quill said. "We have to go… Oh never mind." Quill pushed the two of them out of the way and started pulling on the doorknob to no avail."

"No, of course we haven't tried that!" Machop said sarcastically.

Quill knocked on the door. "Aamira! What happened?"

Aamira didn't answer for a long time. "I'm… No, I'm not coming out!" She finally said.

"Why not?" Nuzleaf turned to Machop. "Aww what did you do this time?"

"You can't go blaming this on me!" Machop said.

"Fine! I'll come out if you two would stop arguing! You're both driving me mad!" A lock clicked on the other side of the door and Aamira came out. Everyone jumped when they saw what she was carrying. Machop looked too shocked to speak.

"Is that… Is that an egg?" Quill did seem somewhat happy that Aamira wasn't hurt, but an egg? No one had been expecting that. It was two colors. One was pure white and the other a bright red.

"Well, well." Nuzleaf said. "A pokemon egg. But how weird. Pokemon eggs have patters on them that match what they'll hatch into. I don't think anyone around here is those colors."

"So it's not her?" Machop relaxed.

Aamira punched Machop and knocked him into the wall behind. "Of course it's not mine! How could I have laid an egg!"

"Well actually," Nuzleaf said, "you don't really have to. At least I think that's how it is. Some people think that someone leaves eggs for unwary parents during the night."

"What, like the stork?" Aamira asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but the thing is that no one has really ever seen a pokemon lay eggs. Eggs just appear over night for no real reason. No one knows why it happens." Nuzleaf explained.

Aamira started panicking again. "So this could still be my egg?"

"It is for now anyway." Nuzleaf said. "It's obvious that someone left you this egg, but who and why?" Nuzleaf looked into Aamira's room. "I don't think it would be possible that it could have just fallen from somewhere. Anyway, I doubt you could be the mother since the egg is most likely to hatch into the same species of the mother."

"Well whatever." Aamira said. "We need to find out who its parents are! What about the Delibird? They're the same color."

"No, a Delibird egg had a different pattern on it." Nuzleaf pointed to a blue triangular shape. "I'm absolutely positive that one of those isn't on a Delibird egg."

"Well, then let's go find Kangaskhan." Quill said. "Kangaskhan are great parents. Maybe she could take care of it."

"Good idea." Aamira said nervously.

"Well if it isn't Team Sleuth!" Kangaskhan said. "You know, with all the luck your team seems to have, it makes me worry about you. Don't get cocky. But if I remember right you two mentioned something about taking the day off because of an injury."

For the first time since earlier that morning, Aamira noticed the throbbing in her hand. "Yea, we're taking the day off, but we need your help with something." Aamira took the egg out of her collection bag and handed it to Kangaskhan.

"It's an egg!" The baby Kangaskhan said. "Wowee! Where did you get that?"

Kangaskhan sniffed Aamira, which was a little weird to her. "This isn't your egg." She said. "What's the story behind this?"

"We don't know." Aamira said. "I just woke up and there it was in my hammock. Machop and Nuzleaf are on their way to Pedal Village to ask someone from the newspaper to come to see the egg so they can put an add in the paper."

Kangaskhan took the egg from Aamira. "Well I'm afraid I can't take care of it for you today if that's what you wanted, but I don't think it will really matter anyway."

"Why's that?" Quill asked.

"Because this egg could hatch at any moment!" She said, making everyone including the baby Kangaskhan jump. "Take it to Chansey immediately. Chansey are good with eggs."

"Right." Quill turned to Aamira as Kangaskhan handed her the egg. "I think on field day we found out the hospital was somewhere near the post office."

Quill wanted to run there and hurry, but Aamira was more concerned about the egg. If it was about to hatch, she didn't want to risk it getting hurt. So to prevent any injury, they walked there slowly. Near the river they found a tree with moss on it in the shape of a cross. They walked inside to find Chansey, a Chikorita, and even little Happiny from field day.

"Hey, Happiny!" Quill said. "What are you doing here? Don't you have school today?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you two!" Happiny said. "I graduated from the school early! I was top in my class so I took a special exam and passed! So now I'm working with Chansey as an apprentice until I can join an Investigation Team as the team's medic."

"Well that's great!" Quill turned to Chikorita. "And I haven't seen you for a while either."

"Yup!" Chikorita said. "I didn't think you'd remember me since you two are turning into such a hotshot Investigation Team, although we did graduate together. Sort of."

Quill's face turned red. "Oh… Right… the catching the academy on fire thing… Cool thing though, my fire hasn't gone out of control since then!"

"Don't jinx it!" Aamira said to Quill.

They heard a high pitched laughter from the back of the room. Chansey was bandaging Aipom's arm. "Hey Aamira! We have matching arms now!"

Chansey shook her head. "You Investigation Teams become more reckless with each generation, I tell you!"

"Lucky for us we have a doctor on our team!" Quill said. "I'm surprised no one asked about the bandages at the play last night."

Aipom laughed again. "Yea, I think they all thought it would be part of the play and got so used to seeing it that they didn't even wonder about it at the end."

Aamira yelled as she almost dropped the egg.

"Be careful!" Quill said.

"It's hard to do that when it's trying to jump out of my hands!" Aamira shouted at him.

Chansey turned around and was amazed to see Aamira holding the egg. "Oh my. Where did you ever come across a pokemon egg like that?"

"Can we talk about that after it stops trying to jump out of my hands? It's hatching!" Aamira said.

Aipom jumped off the counter. Aamira set the egg on the counter and watched it. A small crack had formed and something was still trying to break through it. It beat its head harshly against the egg until a small red and white dragon-like head popped out. The egg rolled forward, fell off the counter, and broke open. The small dragon pokemon squealed as it fell on its back and stiffened up. Chansey picked it up and put it back on the counter. It shook its head, trying to get rid of the shock from the fall and looked towards Aamira with its hazy eyes. Its vision cleared and it broke into a wide smile after finally being able to see Aamira.

"Aww! It's kinda cute!" Quill jumped up onto the counter to get a closer look, but accidentally scared the hatchling pokemon. It punched Quill so hard that Quill got knocked into the wall on the other side of the room. Quill fell and looked up at the wall. There was ha huge dent where he had hit it. "Woa. That little hatchling's a real powerhouse!"

The baby pokemon jumped off the counter and hid behind Aamira while hugging her legs. "I don't think you made a very good first impression." She said to Quill.

"You can't sneak up on a baby like that!" Aipom walked up to the baby pokemon while wagging her tail and started making funny faces. At first it hid behind Aamira, but then it started laughing along with Chikorita and Happiny. "You see? You have to be nice!"

"Oh, sorry little guy…" Quill said while rubbing his head. "But how can a hatchling punch that hard?"

"Because it's a legendary pokemon." Aamira said. Everyone jumped. "Its name is Latias."

"Latias, huh?" Quill said. "Haven' we seen a pokemon like this before?"

Aamira rolled her eyes. 'Here he goes again.' Aamira sat down on the floor next to Latias. It looked up at Aamira with its shining yellow eyes. It smiled and hugged Aamira around her neck. Aamira started laughing.

"Ooh! It thinks you're its mom!" Chikorita said.

Latias looked up at Aamira hopefully and made a strange chirping sound.

"Well, I guess I am your mom for now. All strength aside, you're pretty cute! It's hard to believe you end up more than twice my size." Aamira patted Latias on her head, but as soon as she did, her ability activated again. 'Take my life! Take anything! Just don't take hers before she gets her chance to live! She's the last one!' Then everything went dark.

Aamira woke up a while later on the counter in the hospital. She turned and saw Quill also on the counter and just waking up. 'Did Quill faint too?'

"You had us worried for a minute." Happiny said. "That was weird. You both fainted at the same time. And Aamira, you kept saying something over and over again. 'They're all disappearing! I'm all that's left! I can't go too! I have to stay here! They'll take her for sure! I'm next! I have to be! I'm all that's left!'"

Those words were too familiar to Aamira, but she didn't say anything. "Do you know why we fainted like that?"

"No idea." Chansey said.

Aipom jumped onto the counter again. "Hey Aamira. Your eyes changed color again. This time they're sparkly yellow like Latias's. Hey, I wonder if Latias has something to do with this."

Aamira's eyes widened. "Latias!" She looked around but she was nowhere to be seen. "Latias, where are you?" Latias tackled Aamira from behind and both of them fell off the counter. Latias laughed.

"Wait, where did she just come from?" Aipom asked.

"Oh yea. I forgot about one of Latias's abilities. Latias have a plumage all over their body that can bend light around them and turn them invisible." Aamira got up and looked down at Latias. "It's going to be hard keeping track of you, isn't it?" Latias didn't seem to understand and just laughed.

"It was that ability again, wasn't it?" Quill asked. "You had some sort of thought didn't you?"

Aamira nodded and her eyes filled with tears. "I think this Latias might be the last of its kind." Aamira turned to Latias. "But where's your brother? Where's Latios?"

"Who's Latios?" Quill asked.

"Latios is sort of like the male version of Latias. According to legend, one Latias and one Latios are each born into one family of Latias and Latios. Latias and her brother travel around the world together, but they're never seen because of their ability and their amazing speed. Some people think there could be hundreds of them, but after what just happened, I'm not so sure. I'm hoping there's a Latios left though."

"So you know a lot about Latias and Latios?" Chansey asked.

"Yea. I know a bit about lots of legendary pokemon. According to legend there's a great treasure that Latias and Latios protect together."

"A treasure?" Quill suddenly jumped up. "I remember!"

"Remember what?" Aamira asked.

"Where we've seen Latias! It was in the museum! Remember that stone plaque that we saw? There were two pokemon circling at the top of it. I think they might have been Latias and Latios."

Latias started making a weird sound like she was trying to talk. "La… La… Lat… Latios! Latios!"

Aamira looked at Latias sadly. "Where is Latios?"

"Well, let's go." Aipom said. "We need to investigate this. The museum's not far from here and it's our best chance of finding out where Latias came from."

"Alright." Aamira hesitantly picked up Latias for fear that her ability might activate again, but nothing happened. "Let's go."

Upon hearing their story, Dragonite didn't hesitate to bring them straight to the plaque, even with a hyper little kid. The closer they got, the more calm Latias seemed to get. When she saw the plaque, Latias jumped out of Aamira's arms and walked up to it, staring at the carving of Latias and Latios.

"I knew I had seen Latias somewhere before." Quill said.

Latias walked up closer to the plaque. "Latios… Br… Brother Latios."

"Wow, only a few minutes old and she's already learned two words." Aipom said in amazement.

"Latias and Latios are also supposed to be among the most intelligent pokemon." Aamira explained.

Latias walked closer to the plaque and ran her hand over the carving of Latios. Almost instantly Shedinja flew up to Latias and yelled, "Don't touch that!" Latias fell back and started crying. Aamira picked her up and started rocking her.

"Honestly, Shedinja!" Dragonite shouted. "Don't you think I wouldn't have let someone come in with a hyperactive hatchling? Use your eyes!"

"I don't care what kind of pokemon it is! No touching means no—" Shedinja looked at Latias. "Oh my… Latias? But… how?"

No one except Dragonite was even paying any attention to what Shedinja was saying. Everyone was trying to get Latias to calm down. Quill and Aipom tried funny faces, and Aamira continued rocking her, but nothing worked.

Aipom sighed. "Does anyone know a lullaby or something?"

"I can try making one up. Let's see." Aamira thought for a minute and started singing. "Dear little princess, close your eyes. The dark of night surrounds you. The world of dreams is your own there's no reason to fear. And soon once more night will be day and it will be time once more to play."

Aamira repeated the verse twice more. Everyone, except Shedinja who flew off to scold some kids for trying to pick up a statue, smiled when Latias finally fell asleep.

"That was some quick thinking." Dragonite said to Aamira and Aipom. "So what are you going to do now? You know Latias wants to find Latios, but what can you do?"

"Find him, of course." Aamira said. "But how? And where would he be?"

"You could always try Incendia Anhelo. That's the dragon pokemon country." Dragonite suggested. "It's far to the west and across a mountain range. I don't think you could take Latias with you on a journey like that though."

"I won't just leave her behind!" Aamira said. "She thinks I'm her mom. She gets scared around other people.

"We'll go for you!" Aipom said. "Mankey went to do some solo training after I got hurt, but I think I'll be okay with a small injury like this. I still have two hands, after all. And besides, I've never seen Quill battle before."

"Yea, that sounds good to me." Quill said. "Latias doesn't like me much anyway.

"Are you sure it's okay?" Aamira asked.

"No problem!" Quill said. "And we could even take Machop so he won't be popping up everywhere. Not to mention he hasn't been on a mission yet."

"Oh, I forgot." Aipom said. "I thought you two were taking the day off. Wouldn't you want to stay here?"

"It's fine." Quill said. "We didn't plan on taking the day off, but Chansey said it was best because of Aamira's hand. Since she's staying here with Latias anyway, I don't see why going would be a big problem."

"Then let's go, go, go!" Aipom grabbed Quill by the arm and ran off, dragging him behind her.

Aamira suddenly felt scared. She had never been alone in the city before, and the one time she had been alone in a dungeon, Charmeleon had found her. The only other time was when she and Quill had gotten separated in a storm, but even then she was with another huge group of pokemon. Now she was around a bunch of other pokemon, but she didn't really know any of them.

Dragonite spoke suddenly, making Aamira jump. "I'd suggest we try teaching Latias how to fly. It's supposed to be an ability that Latias and Latios learn almost immediately after hatching, but since you can't fly and I don't fly like a Latias or a Latios, it could be somewhat problematic."

"Wait, did you say that 'we' should try to teach her how to fly." Aamira asked.

"Well of course! I know things with both Machop and Nuzleaf are a bit… strange… and with a hatchling they'd be even weirder, even with one of them gone. I think I'm the only one around town who can fly and who has some spare time right now. And besides, after flying all the way to Ignis I don't want to be cooped up down here."

"Thanks, Dragonite." Aamira said. "Oh, so how did it go anyway? You said they needed you. Were you able to help them at all?"

"Sadly, no. The leaders from each country brought a sort of 'treasure' to Ignis. Even Charizard let them see Ignis's treasure. He promised to give us the Grace-Seed back, but when Charmeleon returned, he said he had been mugged for it by a pokemon named Milotic. Truthfully I don't believe it."

Aamira felt so stupid. She never considered that someone might blame Charmeleon for the Grace-Seed theft, even if he had originally stolen it in the first place. "Uh, do you think I can talk to you about something without anyone else around?"

"Of course. What is it?"

Both of them headed back to a part of the museum filled with broken statues and other things. Finally Aamira understood why Shedinja didn't like people touching anything in the museum.

"Shedinja calls this room the graveyard." Dragonite said. "Horrible isn't it? Valuable historic artifacts destroyed and reduced to this. Shedinja hardly ever comes in here, and besides us, no one really knows about this room. So tell me whatever you need to."

Aamira sat Latias down and took a deep breath. She explained everything that had happened on the day Dragonite had left. Her guilt grew as she told the story and watched the usual smile on his face disappear.

"And then Milotic, Prinplup, and Golduck appeared. We fought them and eventually I figured out how to learn Aura Sphere and Charmeleon got his flame back, but Milotic escaped with the Grace-Seed." Aamira finished.

Dragonite rubbed his head. "You should have told someone about this earlier. Not Quill, but Espeon, Alakazam, Noctowl, even me. You should have told someone about this!"

"But I was worried about what Charmeleon said." Aamira said. "I didn't really think much had changed aside from the Grace-Seed being in someone else's possession. And Charmeleon said that if we were found practicing together up there, we might both end up in a prison cell. I guess I was scared."

"Fear can make us do horrible things, Aamira." Dragonite said. "But we must be careful that it doesn't run our whole lives. I can understand not wanting to tell anyone about this. Charmeleon was a criminal and from you two training together, you became friends. Besides, Espeon, of course, would have already had enough to worry about, Alakazam is a little pushy at times and probably wouldn't have even listened to you, and Noctowl and I weren't even around until last night. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there really would have been anyone else around you could trust with information like that."

"So everything's okay now, right? I'm not in any trouble for this?" Aamira asked.

"Well, I might have to call the police, and Smeargle too, to make a new wanted poster for Milotic, but yes everything is fine."

Aamira sighed out of relief. "Okay, let's try to get Latias up in the air."

Latias woke up a while later. Dragonite tried showing Latias how to flap her wings, but apparently her wings didn't quite work the same way. Watching Dragonite really made her want to fly, but she didn't seem capable of learning how. Every time she would fall, she would freeze up and not want to move until Aamira came over to comfort her.

"There must be something we can do about this." Dragonite said. "How about I stay here and try to get her to fly and you go look through the library for anything that might help us."

"If you think that would help." Aamira ran off to the library.

In the library there were a few pokemon that were checking out books. Leafeon seemed busier than Aamira had ever seen her before. If Leafeon hadn't jut happened to look up, Aamira doubted she ever would have noticed her.

"Aamira!" She said. "I haven't seen you in a few days."

"Yea, well… You know how unpredictable things can get for an Investigation Team."

Leafeon nodded. "Yes, I understand. So what brings you here now? It's later that the usual time you come in."

"Well… Like I said… Things are unpredictable for an Investigation Team. You're not going to believe what happened this morning."

Aamira filled them in on everything that had happened. Everyone looked at her in disbelief except Leafeon who seemed to be really interested. Really? What were the odds of a legendary pokemon egg turning up in Aamira's hammock with no explanation whatsoever?

"I think I might have something." Leafeon walked over to the bookshelf behind her desk and pulled out a really thick and old looking book. She put it on her desk and opened it to a page with an ancient looking picture of Latias and Latios circling each other. "It seems that Latias and Latios learn how to fly by gliding. They jump off a high place and glide. That gives them the feel of flying and from there they can figure out how to levitate."

Aamira gulped. "And what happens if they don't glide?"

"They usually don't get it on the first try. If they don't the parents catch them and they just try again."

Aamira's heartbeat quickened. "I think I have to go."

Back by Team Sleuth HQ, Dragonite was standing there and trying to calm down Latias who was crying harder than ever before. As much as he tried, he couldn't get Latias to stop.

"Latias!" Aamira ran over to Latias. She stopped crying immediately and jumped up and hugged Aamira. Aamira hugged her back. Dragonite watched them with a blank expression. Aamira noticed. "I something wrong?"

"Huh?" Dragonite seemed to snap out of a trance and his usual happy demeanor returned. "Oh, no. It's nothing. So did you find anything that could help Latias?"

"Yea. Leafeon said that Latias learn to fly by gliding. After they learn how to glide, they can figure out how to fly."

"Excellent. You and Latias climb up your tree and I'll fly ahead in case she falls."

"Alright. Hang on, Latias." Latias did so and Aamira started climbing up the tree. When they got to one of the higher branches, Latias got off Aamira's back and clung to the bark. "As soon as you feel a good gust of wind, jump. Okay?"

"Okay…" Latias said timidly.

Aamira smiled at how much she was learning already. Latias waited for a while before a strong gust of wind came and jumped. She spread her wings and seemed to be doing well for a minute, but then she froze up and her wings retracted and she started falling. Dragonite caught her and flew her back up to the branch Aamira was standing on.

"It's getting late." He said. "Maybe we should pick up from here tomorrow."

Aamira looked at Latias with worry. "Why do you think she froze up?"

"Pokemon can see what's going on outside their eggs right before they hatch. Something traumatic might have happened right before she hatched. That might also be the reason she somehow ended up in your hammock."

"You think so?" Aamira sighed. "Alright, we'll pick up from here tomorrow."

Later that night, Aamira was woken up for the umpteenth time by Latias. She had been having horrible dreams all night. Every time she would just cling onto Aamira's arm and freeze up.

"It's alright." Aamira said in a soothing voice. She sighed and got out of the hammock. "What's happened to you? Some fearsome legendary pokemon you'll turn into."

Latias laughed, but still sounded sad.

Aamira suddenly remembered something else about Latias and Latios. "You have a special ability, don't you? Sight Sharing. You and Latios can see the same things even if you're half a world apart." Aamira put her hand on Latias's head. "Show me what's happened to you."

Latias closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were glowing and Aamira got a vision of what happened two nights ago.

A grown Latias carrying an egg was flying at top speed with a Latios. It was storming. The Latias and Latios circled around each other in mid air and looked back over their shoulders. A group of pokemon who were in shadows from the cover of the storm were closing in on them, even as they flew at top speed. Latios stopped suddenly in mid air.

Latias turned to him. "Latios! Hurry! There's no time!"

Latios looked over his shoulder at her. "You're right. There is no time. Go! I'll hold them off!"

Latias's eyes filled with tears and she turned and flew away at top speed. Lightning struck directly in front of her and she stopped suddenly. In an instant she was surrounded by the pokemon that had been chasing them. Latias looked around desperately. "Latios! Latios!"

No one came. Latias shook her head and flew straight up. The pokemon followed her and she dived to the ground. She flew along the forest floor with the pokemon chasing her. Latias was better at maneuvering and was able to evade them. When she had finally lost them, Latias landed and headed into a cave.

"Hello? Where are you, Shade? It's Latias. I need your help." She shouted.

A pokemon wearing a cloak stepped out of the shadows and looked up at Latias. "So, you've finally come to reason? The treasure. Where is it?"

"It's safe in…" Latias turned around to make sure none of the pokemon had caught up to her. "It's safe in Purity Springs."

"Good. Let's hope it stays that way."

"Please! You have to help me." Latias handed the cloaked pokemon the egg. "She's the last one. Her brother's gone into hiding, but the treasure must be guarded by both a Latias and a Latios. This Latias will be the last Latias guardian ever if she's killed now."

The cloaked pokemon nodded. "I understand. I'll have it teleported to a safe place half the world away. They'll never find it there."

"I only hope that it's found by someone kind who won't corrupt her mind. There's so much evil in the world."

"I know." The cloaked pokemon raised his head. "Someone's coming. Someone strong. Hold them off and I'll send the egg."

"Right." Latias flew to the front of the cave.

The shadow that Aamira had seen the night before appeared in front of Latias. "The treasure! Where is it! Were is the treasure!"

Latias looked calmly into the glowing eyes of the shadow. There was no way to avoid telling it what it wanted to know. "It's… It's in Purity Springs. But it doesn't matter. If the treasure's kept out of the water, it will break. It's of no use to you."

The shadowy pokemon laughed evilly. "My dear Latias! Don't you even know anything about the very treasure you protect? A new one can always be made, I just need to get rid of the original. Then all I'll need is to take the life of the new guardian."

Latias's eyes suddenly filled with fear. "Take my life! Take anything! Just don't take hers before she gets her chance to live! She's the last one!"

Though she couldn't see its face, Aamira got the feeling the pokemon was smirking. "I know. And that's the point." The pokemon used a move that Aamira wasn't familiar with and the Latias fell on the ground and the light disappeared from its eyes.

"Too bad you'll never get the treasure." The cloaked pokemon said. The egg was glowing and the hood of his cloak was just barely visible.

The shadowy pokemon's eyes widened. "You!" It flew towards the cloaked pokemon at top speed. "No!"

The egg glowed and disappeared.

The vision faded and Aamira collapsed on the ground and started to cry. "Latias… I'm sorry…"

Latias ran over to Aamira and hugged her. "Aamira… You're not my mom… But you're the best one I could ever hope for. My mom got her wish. I came to a kind pokemon."

Aamira smiled through her tears and hugged Latias back. "I love you, Latias." Aamira let go. "And that's why you're going to fly."

Latias smiled with her eyes full of determination. "Let's do it!"

Aamira hung onto the same branch they were on before and looked down. It seemed even higher at night. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive." Latias flexed her wings and jumped. She tumbled in the air and shouted.

"Latias!" Aamira looked down at her. "Glide, Levitate, Fly! Do something other than fall!"

Latias disappeared under the shadow of the tree. Aamira looked around frantically, but couldn't see anything. Aamira sat back against the tree. "Latias…"

Latias shot up into the air so suddenly that Aamira almost fell out of the tree. She flew around the tree a few times at top speed and then hovered in the air in front of Aamira. "I… I'm flying!"

"Yea, you are." Aamira smiled sadly.

"Aamira?" Latias said. "What's wrong?"

"I… I only wish I could join you in the air." She said.

Latias smiled. She turned in the air suddenly and saw a pokemon levitating in front of her. They had no idea where it had come from or how long it had been there. It tilted its head as it stared at Latias and smiled. It looked exactly like Latias, except blue and with a red triangle on its chest instead of the blue on Latias had. It was Latios.

"Big brother…" Latias's eyes filled with tears.

"I saw." He said. "I saw that vision from the sight sharing and rushed here right away." He turned to Aamira. "I saw you too. Thank you for taking care of my sister." He turned in the air then looked over his shoulder at Latias. "Well? Let's go home."

Latias looked up at him and shook her head. "No! I can't! I won't leave Aamira."

Latios flew back to her. "I understand. But we're guardians of an ancient treasure. We can't be selfish. We have no choice. All the pokemon there are carefree and very kind. It's like our own little pokemon paradise."

"No! I… I won't go!" Latias hugged onto Aamira's arm.

Aamira shrugged Latias off. "Go, Latias! Be with your brother. Go home…"

"No, Aamira! I want to stay here with you!" Latias shouted.

Aamira charged up an Aura Sphere and fired it towards Latias, but missed intentionally. "Go home…" Her eyes filled with tears.

Latios flew off. Latias looked over her shoulder at Aamira and followed Latios. They both flew off in the light of the full moon before disappearing. In the distance Aamira heard Latias shouting to her. "No matter how hard you try to drive me away, I'll always love you, Mom!"

Aamira burst into tears, jumped out of the tree and ran in the direction Latias and Latios had disappeared in. When she had nearly run all the way to town hall, Aamira tripped and curled up on the ground. "Latias… This is goodbye, but not forever."

"I can't believe how far we got thought!" Aipom said. "Maybe we just got lucky."

"Yea, maybe." Quill said. "Too bad though, we didn't even find out anything about Latias and Latios." Both Aipom and Quill were bandaged almost from head to foot from the injuries they had sustained.

"It was pretty cool for my first time out of the country though." Aipom said. She stopped Quill suddenly. They had found Aamira laying on the ground.

"Aamira!" Quill ran over to her. "Aamira, wake up!"

Aamira stood and sat up. Without turning to Quill she said, "Latias is gone." Tears came back to her eyes. "She's finally home."


	14. Chapter 14 The Collectors

"Aamira!" Quill yelled. "You have to come out of there some time!" 

"I will when Latias comes back!" Aamira shouted from inside her room. 

"I've got this." Machop used Brick Break and knocked the door down. "Aamira, you're acting ridiculous! Earlier you were happy that Latias went home and you were confident that you would meet again, and now you're locking yourself in your room? What will that solve?"

Aamira got up off of her couch. "You're… You're right. I'm sorry." 

"Ooh!" Quill said. "Machop's got a sensitive side!" 

Nuzleaf glared at Quill then turned back to Aamira. "There's got to be something to get your mind off of this."

"Wait." Aamira said. "Hey Quill, didn't you say the first time we met that the fog of Shroud Lake could even heal a broken heart?" 

"Yea, I think so. It really calms people when they're troubled. I should know. You should have seen how upset I was over not graduating." Quill's face turned red with embarrassment. "So we could all go to Shroud Lake. We haven't been down there in a while anyway."

"I never had a chance to show the lake to Latias." Aamira said. She shook her head. "I've got to get over this!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Quill led the way out of the Treehouse. It was like a ghost town outside their HQ. Everyone looked around timidly. The silence was enough to make their ears ring.

"Where is everyone?" Nuzleaf asked. 

Even in the spark division, where few people lived, there were always a few people running around or a few kids playing in the streets, but now there wasn't anyone. 

"Maybe there will be someone in town square." Quill said. "Yea, there are always people out there." 

All of them headed out of the spark division, but still they didn't meet anyone. No one was at the academy, although it should have been filled with kids by then and the Link Shop and Appraisal were abandoned. Finally they noticed someone. A whole lot of someones. Overhead were about a hundred Delibird flying towards Town Square. 

"Something's going on." Aamira ran towards Town Square with everyone else close behind. 

In the middle of Town Square, every pokemon in the city was gathered around Arcanine and Noctowl. 

"Whatever's going on, it's big." Quill said. He looked up and recognized a pokemon flying above him. "Shedinja! You came too?" 

Shedinja turned to him. "Yea, yea. Surprising isn't it? But everyone's out here, so no one's going to break anything. Besides, everyone comes to listen when Arcanine has some news. Word going around is that the Collectors have come back to Silva." 

"Who are the Collectors?" Aamira asked. 

Shedinja seemed to go pale and became surprisingly frightened. "How can you have not have heard of the Collectors! They're the worst of the worst, I tell you! Everyone, even me, worries about them! They're the same bandits that put Noctowl's Investigation Team out of commission!" 

Aamira and Quill gulped. "I've never heard of them either." Quill said. "They sound pretty bad though." 

"I've heard of them, of course." Machop said. 

"You're full of it!" Nuzleaf snapped at him. 

"I'm serious for once!" Machop said. "The Collectors are some of the most cruel and horrid thieves in the history of Investigation Teams. They lure unsuspecting high ranked Investigation Teams into traps and attack. They attack them until they're on the verge of dieing then they steal their Aura Glasses and run off. They don't take anything else, which only proves how evil they are. 

"They do it solely to crush the pride of any Investigation Teams they come across, not for much personal gain. Any Investigation Teams that have to go through what the Collectors put them through are so badly hurt emotionally that they can't bear to continue on as an Investigation Team. It must feel horrible to know you've had the symbol of the Investigation Teams stolen. Even worse to know they could have easily killed any of the Investigation Team members if they wanted to, but let them go just to torture them further." 

"That's horrible!" Aamira said.

"I'm guessing if you've never heard of them, you wouldn't know about the rumor." Shedinja said. "According to the rumor, they have a secret room somewhere where they hide every Aura Glass they've ever stolen. They even label them with the name of the person they stole it from and the team name."

"Now come on!" Dragonite said. "Don't go making up stuff just to scare them! Everything Machop said was true, but there's no such rumor about a secret hideout!" 

Shedinja glared at him. "I was only trying to have some fun…" 

"Can I have everyone's attention, please!" Arcanine said. "I have some good news and some bad news to share with everyone. The bad news is that the Collectors have returned to Sylva. But there is some good news for once. Their identities have been discovered!" 

Everyone cheered. 

"Wait!" Someone said. "That has to mean a teams Aura Glasses have been stolen!" 

"Forget that!" A Delibird perched on a nearby tree said. "That must mean someone got really badly hurt!" 

"Yes." Arcanine said. "The team that was attacked was Team Sky." 

"What?" Aamira and Quill both jumped. 

Chansey led Aipom and Mankey from the direction of town hall. They were both limping really badly and looked like they shouldn't even be able to walk. Aamira and Quill pushed their way through the crowd and ran to Team Sky. 

"Hey, are you both okay?" Quill asked. 

"Huh?" Aipom looked up at him. "Oh… Yea, sure…" Her tail was dragging behind her. Aipom never walked with her tail down like that before. 

"What about you?" Aamira asked Mankey. 

Mankey just sat on the ground and looked away.

Quill sighed sadly. "It was really that bad, huh? Those Collectors are as bad as everyone says they are."

Aipom nodded. "I can't go on… Team Sky is finished… What kind of Investigation Team can keep going after having something as important as their Aura Glasses stolen?" Aipom's eyes filled with tears. "And we came so far! It's not fair!" 

"Don't worry!" Quill said. "We'll get your Aura Glasses back!" 

"No!" Everyone shouted. 

"You absolutely will not!" Noctowl never sounded so angry. "You kids are no match for them! Under no circumstances, I repeat NO CIRCUMSTANCES, are you to go looking for them!" Noctowl turned to everyone else. "That goes for everyone!" 

"Our police forces are working tirelessly to track down the Collectors. In the mean time, be sure to watch out for these pokemon." Arcanine held up a poster for everyone to see. There were three pokemon on it; A Weavile, Houndoom, and Gliscor. 

"They look bad…" Wurmple said. 

"It's worse though…" Aipom said. "They got Caterpie! We took him with us on a mission so he could train a little, and they ambushed us." 

"They've never taken hostages before." Arcanine said. "Our only guess is that they're planning to hold some pokemon ransom to lure in a strong Investigation Team. We'll try to apprehend the trio before then. Until then, no one should take any ransom missions. Stay away from dungeons that seem too hard or too easy. Dismissed." 

Everyone went back to where they usually were and the Investigation Teams got to work. Unsurprisingly, all of them including Team Sleuth decided to do patrol. Because of the number of Investigation Teams in the town, no one needed any help at all by noon and the jobs posted on the help center were piling up. 

All four members of Team Sleuth were bored and worried at the same time. To pass the time, they had resorted to kicking a rock back and fourth. Quill looked over at some Investigation Teams who had given up on playing it safe and were taking about ten jobs from the help center each. Soon there were no jobs left. 

Everyone sighed. 

"This stinks!" Machop kicked the rock to Nuzleaf. "I don't want to live in fear anymore! I hardly go on any missions and now none of us can!" 

"I know, but what can we do?" Nuzleaf kicked the rock to Quill. "The missions that were all on the bored were taken by those other teams. Besides, I bet one of the teams that come back tonight will have had their Aura Glasses stolen. 

"Yea, you're probably right." Quill kicked the rock to Aamira. "Aamira, what do you think?"

"I'm worried about Caterpie. They're not the strongest pokemon, are they?" She kicked the rock back to Machop.

"No, they're not." Quill said. "It is worrying, but the whole reason Noctowl, Alakazam, and Gallade aren't an Investigation Team is because of them."

Machop kicked the rock to Nuzleaf. "Maybe we could train or something. Anything to pass the time."

"I was able to use Aura Sphere again last night." Aamira said. "Quill hasn't used Flame Wheel in a while. Have either of you learned a new attack lately?" 

"Razor Leaf." Nuzleaf said. 

"Karate Chop." Machop picked up the rock and threw it into the air. Aamira shot at it with an Aura Sphere and the rock disintegrated in a plume of dust. "Not bad." 

Nuzleaf picked up another rock and threw it at Machop. 

"Ah!" Machop didn't seem very prepared for it, but was still able to smash the rock with his Karate Chop. 

Quill picked up another rock and threw it Nuzleaf. 

Nuzleaf sliced it in half easily with a Razor Leaf. "Ha! Too easy!" 

Aamira, Machop, and Nuzleaf all looked back and fourth between each other. They all looked back at Quill and smirked evilly and picked up some rocks. 

"Wait… What are you…?" Quill looked at them in shock. "Can we talk about this!" 

"And here's the pitch!" Aamira through the rock she had picked up like someone would pitch a baseball and Nuzleaf and Machop threw theirs right after. 

"Ah!" Quill used Flame Wheel, somehow without moving from the spot he was standing in, and the rocks disintegrated as soon as they came in contact with the flames. Quill smirked. "Okay, let's do this!"

For the next half hour they threw rocks back and fourth. They never missed one of them. When they were too tired to attack anymore, they practiced dodging.

"Hey, why not practice some move combos?" Aamira asked. 

"What do you mean?" Quill asked. 

"I mean combine our moves. What would you think about fiery Karate Chops or a grass Aura Sphere? There could be more too if we just keep experimenting. Maybe combinations of three or four moves." 

"What if we get on opposite teams and experiment with combinations?" Nuzleaf suggested.

"Hey! That's a good idea." Quill said. "Alright, Machop and I will be one team and Aamira and Nuzleaf will be another." 

Both teams faced each other. They used a variety of combinations. Some were really complicated, like Nuzleaf and Aamira's Nature power and Force Palm combo that required precise timing, or Quill and Machop's Low Kick and Ember combo which required a precise balance of power. 

Once Nuzleaf and Aamira did a Quick Attack and Razor Leaf combo. Nuzleaf used Razor Leaf and Aamira used Quick Attack, following the leaves. The leaves hit Quill and Machop and Aamira knocked into both of them with Quick Attack. Quill fired an Ember into the air above Aamira and Machop jumped into the fire, spinning so he wouldn't get burned, and used Low Kick on Aamira. Aamira used Quick Attack again to dodge and stood back where she was next to Nuzleaf.

They were all out of original ideas, so both sides went with what Aamira had told them to convince them to practice combos. Aamira used Aura Sphere and Nuzleaf used Leaf Blade. The leaves got caught in the Aura Sphere and started revolving around it. Quill used Ember and Machop ran forward and combined it with Karate Chop. Machop stepped back, but the power from the Karate chop was still in the fire. The fire swirled around the energy from the Karate Chop. The leaves around the Aura sphere caught fire. Instead of leaves revolving around the Aura Sphere, it was now rings of fire. When the Karate Chop got too strong for the Aura Sphere, the Aura Sphere exploded in to a bunch of colors. It disconnected the rings of fire and the small embers left from the burning leaves flew into the air and started falling to the ground. 

Within a few seconds, the whole area was covered in soot and ashes. Some of the embers had fallen on them, but it didn't hurt. It wasn't even hot, but instead felt cold for some reason.

"Did the Aura Sphere do that?" Aamira asked. "The fire was cold… Was that because of Aura Sphere?" 

Before anyone could answer, a crowd that had formed around them without any of them noticing started cheering. Aamira spun on one leg in a complete circle and took a bow. Quill jumped and raised his Aura Glass in the air. Machop punched his fists into the air and then punched them together. Nuzleaf crossed his arms and flipped the leaf on his head. These were their Investigation Team poses. When they had done them the crowd started cheering louder.

"Where did you all come from?" Quill asked. 

"Well what do you expect?" A Swampart in the crowd replied. "We're all bored out of our minds. That last thing was something to see though."

"It was… just an accident really." Aamira said.

A white pokemon flew over the crowd and landed on the ground panting. "My name is Togetic. I've been looking for s strong Investigation Team for a while, but no one's willing to take my mission. Please! This is urgent!" 

"So what's up?" Quill asked. 

"Me and my little sister, Togepi, were walking through a forest when a dungeon suddenly sprang up. We got separated somehow. I was still outside the dungeon, but Togepi ended up inside. Our mom's got too much to worry about as it is. She'll have a heart attack when she finds out I lost Togepi. I was in charge of watching her and now… What if she's hurt? She could be all alone and scared in those dark woods… She's practically just a baby…"

"We'll take the mission." Aamira said. 

"Yea, we…" Quill stammered. "We will? Aamira, what about—?" 

"You heard what she said. It's urgent. Togepi might be hurt. And she's practically just a baby and wandering around the forest on her own!" 

"You're still upset over Latias, aren't you?" Quill asked. 

"Yes, but at least she's just not here anymore and with her older brother. It hurts enough that Latias left, and you know that. So how much do you think it would hurt them if Togepi was gone forever?" 

Quill looked around guiltily. "You're… You're right. Reckless, which I somewhat like, but you're still right." He turned to Togetic. "So where is your sister exactly?" 

"I call the dungeon Vine Forest. I couldn't see much from outside, but it looked like there were holes in the floor that could only be crossed by swinging on vines. I'm worried Togepi might fall into one of the holes. They looked deep." She shook her head. "Sorry I got off track, I'm just worried. It's not too far. It's just southwest of here. With all the vines hanging from the trees, you can't miss it." 

Nuzleaf and Machop stayed on standby (in spite of much protest from Machop) and Quill and Aamira headed to the dungeon. Togetic was right about one thing: You can't miss it. The whole forest looked literally like a mountain of vines. Hardly any trees were visible. 

"Woa." Quill said. "I'll never think Vine City has a lot of vines in it ever again…" 

"Come on. Let's get going." Aamira led the way into the dungeon. 

It was filled with flying type pokemon, much to Aamira's distress. It seemed to her that the flying types kept trying to hit her, although Quill got attacked just as much. They had to swing from vines and do a bunch of other weird stuff just to get through. The vines were strong, at least. They seemed like what the Treehouses from Treetop Town were made of. Quill even tried to burn through one, but it didn't work. 

"Have we come this way already?" Aamira asked. 

"Nope." Quill pointed to a rock formation that was shaped somewhat like a Pidgey. "See? We haven't passed this yet." 

"No, I think I'd remember something like that." Aamira agreed. "But we haven't found a single staircase the whole time we've been in here." 

"I don't think there are any stairs. Just look down here." Quill looked over the edge of a hole. "See how high up we are? We weren't that high when we started. I think every time we swing over these holes on a vine we advance a floor, though it's hard to tell that the floor on the other side is higher or not." 

Aamira looked up. "Why don't we just climb up the vines?" 

Quill jumped. "You're more reckless than I thought! You know how long it would take us to climb up all these floors on vines? We would be like sitting Psyducks! There's no way we could make it to the top without falling or being knocked down by some flying pokemon."

"Yea, guess you're right. But I don't get it. Shouldn't we have seen Togepi by now? How would something that small and wobbly in the knees be able to cross all these vines?"

"Togepi are playful. And lucky. It would surprise me if we tried to save Togepi from something later and we would end up the ones in trouble because Togepi got out by luck."

"Either way, we should probably keep moving." Aamira jumped, swung onto the vine to the other side, and threw the vine back to Quill, who followed her.

After a while the floors started getting smaller. It was then that they realized that they had been going in circles the whole time. Not on the same floor, though. They had been spiraling up the inside of a mountain made of vines the whole time. Since the floors were getting smaller, they figured that they must be close to the top by now. Finally they found a staircase. It led them up to a narrow hallway that wrapped around the side of the mountain. It was so narrow that they had to walk in single file to get through it.

"Looks like this is it." Aamira took a few steps further and tugged on a vine. There was no hole in front of them, but the vine was attached to the ceiling on the floor above them. "Looks like we just climb up here." 

"TOGEEEEEE!" 

"Was that Togepi's voice?" Quill asked. 

"I think so." Aamira climbed up the vine and stood off to the side to make it possible for Quill to get up. "Be careful up here." 

After a little bit of struggling, Quill climbed up and looked around. They were inside the mountains peak. It was just a hollow room with no other doors or anything else. It was so small that they could do little more than just stand there. 

"Wait, Togepi's not here." Quill said. 

TOGEEEEEE!" 

"So where's the yelling coming from?" Aamira wondered. 

Quill shivered and the fire on his back flickered for a second. 

"What's wrong?" Aamira asked. 

"I don't know… I just got a chill for some reason. That was weird. If feels like…" 

"We're being watched?" Aamira looked around but no one was there. Then she looked up and saw a pokemon concealed in the shadows on the roof. Nothing was visible except its gleaming yellow eyes. It smirked at them.

Suddenly the floor was gone and Quill and Aamira started falling. After a while, they gave up panicking because it was taking them so long to reach the bottom. 

"It feels like we're going down through every floor." Quill said. 

"Every floor nothing." Aamira said. "By now, we're somewhere underground." 

"Uhh… Speaking of the ground…" Quill pointed under them. 

The ground was coming towards them fast. Aamira reached out her hand and grabbed Quill, then as soon as they came out of the hole in the ceiling, Aamira grabbed onto a convenient hanging vine. 

"Still think Togepi are the lucky ones?" Immediately after Aamira said this, the vine snapped and they fell two or three feet to the floor. "Ow…" Aamira rubbed her arms. "It felt like my arms were being pulled out of their sockets. This is definitely going to hurt in the morning." 

Quill looked around. "I think this is a different dungeon all together." A flying pokemon swooped out of the hole they had just fallen from and flew into the dungeon. "What was that?"

"It was too fast to see." Aamira said. "I think it might have been the same pokemon that was above us at the top of the dungeon." 

"This is a pretty serious looking dungeon." Quill said. "Look, it's even got one of those Kangaskhan Rock thingies." 

"Kangaskhan Rock?" 

"There's one outside every serious dungeon. They let you take out items and even save your adventure." 

"What does that mean?" Aamira asked. "What do you mean by 'save your adventure'?" 

"If you don't save and go into a dungeon like this, who knows what could happen. If we're defeated in here, I doubt anyone would be able to find us. But if we save at a Kangaskhan Rock and we're defeated, our Aura Glasses teleport us back to this room where the rock is." Quill shivered. "This might be too tough for us. Maybe we should just go back." 

"Back how?" Aamira pointed up at the only visible exit. 

Quill looked up. "Yea, you're right. If there is another exit, we'll have to find it." 

Both of them saved and took a few items from the Kangaskhan Rock and headed into the second dungeon, which they had decided to call Vine Cavern. Inside were a variety of ghost and dark type pokemon. Whenever a ghost was nearby, they felt a chill go up their spine. Whenever a dark pokemon was watching them, they could feel the eyes staring at them. It was a creepy place for sure. It was pitch black down there. Quill had to keep his fire going and Aamira held an Aura Sphere out on front of her the whole time. 

Both of them stopped suddenly. A chill ran up their spines. Both turned around but nothing was there. They turned back around and something jumped out at them! "HAUNTERRRRRR!" It shouted. 

Aamira and Quill both screamed. The haunter laughed. "So gullible!" It circled around them once and disappeared. 

"That was scary!" Quill's eyes were watering. "I can't take much more of this. I want to go home."

"I know. Me too." 

"TOGEEEEEEEE!" 

"That was Togepi!" Aamira ran ahead. 

Quill jumped and ran after her. "Don't you dare leave me here!" 

Both of them walked down a flight of stairs and entered a giant room. There was a doorway in front of them. They could hear Togepi's sobbing from inside. Both of them walked in. Aamira's foot caught on a wire of some sort and a cage door slammed down over the doorway. 

"What the…" Quill looked at the tripwire. "It's a trap!" 

"I want my mommy!" Togepi tried ran towards Aamira and Quill. 

"Don't take another step!" A Houndoom walked out of the shadows on their left and scared Togepi so much that she stopped running and just stood there paralyzed in fear. 

"Aww! Don't scare the little kid half to death!" A Gliscor swooped down from the ceiling and landed on his tail to the right of Aamira and Quill. "We did promise her she could go home after all of this." 

"Of course why do we have to go by our word?" A Weavile stepped out of the shadows in front of Aamira and Quill and walked up behind Togepi. "Aww. What a cute innocent little child." Togepi started crying and was still too scared to move. 

"Don't you lay a claw on her, Weavile!" Aamira and Quill turned to see Togetic flying outside the cage door. "We had a deal!" 

"You set us up!" Aamira yelled. 

"I had no choice…" She said. "No one in Sylva is strong enough to defeat them. You wouldn't have been able to, so instead they held Togepi hostage and told me to lure Team Sleuth here if I ever wanted to see her again." 

Weavile closed his eyes, smirked, and laughed. "Yes, exactly. Those were my exact words. Lure Team Sleuth here or you'll never SEE her again. Well, you saw her." 

"No! You backstabber!" Togetic shouted. 

"Backstabber? Not a bad idea." Weavile raised his claws in the air. 

Aamira quickly charged up an Aura Sphere and hit him with it. Weavile was knocked into the wall behind him that was hidden in the shadows. "Togepi, run!" 

Togepi yelled and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to her big sister. She slipped through the bars of the cage door and the two of them ran off. 

"I'll stop them!" Gliscor went to chase after them, but Weavile stopped him. 

"Just let them go." He said. "We have bigger Magikarps to fry anyway. Aamira and Quill of Team Sleuth. Fifteen adventures so far and two recruits not counting you two. Silver Rank, correct?" Weavile's eyes gleamed. "Silver! My favorite! Strong enough to put up a fight, but wimpy enough to knock around with no problems. Aamira? I know that name from somewhere." 

Aamira flinched and Weavile laughed at her. 

"He's just messing with your mind." Quill said. "Don't let him get to you." 

"He knows all about us. How is it possible that he knows all about us?" She said. 

"That's for me to know, and you two to never find out. Especially since this will be Team Sleuth's last adventure." Weavile laughed again. "It was a little too easy! Aamira, still so crushed from Latias leaving you. You're pathetic. If that egg would have wound up in our team base, we wouldn't just let a legendary fly out on us." 

Aamira had her hands balled up into fists and was shaking with anger. 

"Calm down!" Quill said. "He's just trying to get to you. Don't give him what he wants!" 

"And Quill!" He said. "How did a pathetic loser like you end up one of the leaders of a Silver Rank team? Must I remind you of your brother? You've been in shock ever since then because you couldn't save him. You. It was you're fault and that's plagued you for years!" 

Quills eyes filled with tears. "I was too weak to do anything… That's why I formed this Investigation Team. To get stronger so I can protect people and help people. That's all in the past now and there's nothing I can do about it." 

"Are you sure it's all in the past?" Weavile laughed. "You know how Espeon feels about you, right? But did you know that she was once… No, I probably should say it. It would break your frightened little heart!" Weavile laughed again, more sinister than before. 

Quill was shaking in fear. Somehow Weavile knew more than he did. "What you're saying… You're just saying it to make me doubt everything I know! You're a liar!" 

"And what if I am?" Weavile asked. "It would seem that it's working anyway. You two are more fun to mess with than some other teams we've come across in a while." 

"Don't hog all the fun!" Houndoom shouted. "Too bad Quill's a fire type. Eh, you can have fun with that one Gliscor. If only Aamira were a Lucario it would be all the better!" 

Weavile smirked. "Indeed it would. Well, I'm finished here, so whenever you two want to proceed, feel free." 

Their speed was incredible. Their attacks were so fast and brutal that neither Aamira nor Quill even had time to react. Houndoom and Gliscor attacked repeatedly until both of Team Sleuth fell to the ground and could barely move. 

"PATHETIC!" Weavile said. "Even for as long as you could hold those two off, how is it possible that you're both Silver Rank!" Quill and Aamira got back up somehow, refusing to give up. "Strong willed, spirits not easily swayed, that look of determination. Yes, that explains it. You two would make… No, I must be crazy even thinking about it. Either way," Weavile used Fury Swipes on both of them. 

Quill and Aamira used an Ember and Aura Sphere combo. Weavile caught it with one hand and it disappeared. "Aura Sphere." He said. "I've heard you could do that, but I didn't want to believe it. You really would… No! I'm crazy to think something like that. But perhaps with some training… Yes, maybe then. But until then," Weavile attacked both of them and took their Aura Glasses from inside their bags. 

"No, you… You can't take those!" Quill said. 

"Oh yea?" He said. "Just watch me. I must admit this had been a lot more fun than with that Team Sky, but, unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. When you get the strength to defeat us, meet us in Forbidden Forest." Weavile used blizzard and both Quill and Aamira were frozen in ice. They couldn't move an inch of their bodies and had no choice but to watch Weavile take their Aura Glasses. He then used them to teleport the three of them back to the Kangaskhan statue.

Quill was somehow able to start the fire on his back and melted the ice that both of them were frozen in. Both of them fell to the floor. 

Quill was crying, but Aamira had to ask him something. "Quill? If those Aura Glasses are what teleport us back to the Kangaskhan statue after we're defeated, then how do we get out of here?" 

"I don't know…" He started crying worse than ever. After a while, both of them fell asleep due to exhaustion and the extent of their injuries. 

"Aamira… Please wake up! Aamira!" 

Aamira twitched and opened her eyes. Standing above her was Quill. Aamira sat up on the couch and looked at the ground. They were back in her room in their Treehouse. 

Quill sighed. "Oh, finally!" 

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Aipom had come to visit them. "I can't believe what happened though!" 

Aamira was still staring at the ground. "They took our Aura Glasses… And they used my emotions to get to me! What kind of Riolu am I!" 

"Aamira…" Quill said. "You're not a Riolu, remember?" 

Aipom looked at him like he was crazy. "What do you mean she's not a Riolu?" 

"Oh, sorry Aamira. It slipped out." Quill turned to Aipom. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." 

Aamira stood up. "That was the one thing Weavile didn't know! That means he couldn't have been spying on us the whole time. Besides, his gang attacked Team Sky just yesterday. But to be able to know all that stuff about us, that means someone from around here would have to have been spying on us for a long time." 

"You're still trying to figure this out!" Quill snapped at her. "We're not an Investigation Team anymore! We can't operate without our symbols and our most important tools!" 

"Why not? We don't need to track them down or anything. Forbidden forest. That's where they said they'd be waiting."

"Aamira, that's a dangerous dungeon." Aipom said. "You would never make it." 

"No one ever said Quill would make it as an Investigation Team member." Aamira pointed out. 

"And they were all right." Quill said. "I wasn't cut out for this." 

Aipom finally snapped out of it. "No one has the right to say you can't do anything! You can do anything that you put your mind to!" 

"That's the spirit!" Aamira said. 

The room went dark. A giant shadow rose out of the floor and roared. Everyone screamed. Everything got brighter again and a haunter appeared where the shadow had been. "Ha! Even better the second time!" 

"Wait, are you that same Haunter?" Aamira asked. 

"The one that scared you half to death earlier?" He said. "You bet I am. Wanted to scare the living daylights out of you two again when I found you barely alive in that prison cell. What else could I do? I rushed you both back here." 

"You saved us?" Aamira asked. "You're a ghost pokemon and you saved us?" 

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Haunter rolled in the air. "But then again, you've got a Sableye at a bank. Now that's really unbelievable. Can't trust those things as far as you can throw them."

"How do you throw a ghost?" Quill asked. 

"It's really, really hard to do." Haunter laughed. "I think I can have fun around here. Now if you excuse me, I think I'll scare the living daylights out of the duo in the hallway trying to listen in at the keyhole."

There was the sound of a couple of people falling on the floor and then an argument that started growing louder and louder until haunter flew out there, shouted, and scared them both stiff. He then flew back in and started rolling in the air laughing, which sounded something like "Keh-keh-keh-keh." 

He floated down between Aamira and Quill. "So, you two are going to Forbidden Forest?" 

Aipom pushed Haunter back. "No they most certainly are not! I said they shouldn't give up being Investigation Team members." 

"But Aipom, they told us exactly where to go." Quill said. "Why can't we just go after them?" 

"I told you! That dungeon's dangerous! And don't you get it? This is the perfect opportunity to catch them. If we tell the police what Weavile told you, they might be able to finally catch them." Aipom frowned. "And of course we've already told them, remember?" 

"Oh yea…" Quill said. "I forgot. So I guess there's nothing we can do now." 

They were all worried about the Collectors capturing another team, but like Quill had said, there was nothing they could do at this point. Later when Aamira went to go to bed, she instinctively reached for the scarf around her neck to take it off for the night. It was then she realized that she hadn't even put it on that morning. They were going to go out to the lake, so she hadn't bothered. This was the first time she went on a mission without it, and the first time they had lost. She remembered the time she was troubled at night. She had put the scarf under her head like a pillow and fell asleep easily.

Aamira walked over to her hammock and picked up the pillow that Vileplume had given them the first time they went on patrol. Some nights it worked great, but others she would hear voices. She realized now that every time she was able to sleep was when her scarf was on her pillow. 

Aamira ran her fingers over the material. "What's this even made of? It never gets burned or damaged or anything. And this symbol on it; what does it mean?" 

Aamira shrugged. Those things could wait. She folded her scarf up and put it on her pillow. As soon as she laid down, she fell asleep without any problems. All her worries about Latias and the Collectors were gone.


	15. Chapter 15 Team Night

Aamira woke up earlier than usual on purpose. It wasn't even dawn yet. She got up and did something she never did before. Usually she tied her scarf around her neck, but she had a theory that it was more than just a scarf and she wanted to prove it. Of course, she was afraid that the Collectors might figure something out if she suddenly showed up with the scarf on after accidentally leaving it behind, so she hid it on the inside of her Power Band.

Aamira walked out of her room and saw that Quill had also. They were both wide awake and ready to go. They headed out and into town. They had taken everything: some extra Oran Berries, some Reviver Seeds, and even their Aura Staffs. They walked through town and stopped when they heard voices coming from near town hall. They hid and watched what was going on. 

"I want a full report." Noctowl said to Arcanine and about twenty Growlith. 

Arcanine bowed her head shamefully. "I'm head of the police force of Silva, and even my best officers and I couldn't take down the three of them." They hadn't noticed it earlier because of how dark it was, but Arcanine and all the Growlith looked pretty badly hurt. "They attacked us from everywhere. There were a lot more than just Weavile, Gliscor, and Houndoom. They were everywhere! They were unbelievably strong! I can't even remember how many of them there were or what types of pokemon they were."

"That's not the worst of it." Deputy Growlith said. "Immediately after they had wiped all of us out and we could barely even move, Weavile attacked Team Sky's Caterpie and said if anyone but Team Sleuth comes there again, the next attack would be fatal." 

"I'm more worried about 'that' attack." One of the Growlith said. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I could ever go through that again!"

Quill and Aamira glanced at each other then turned back to the group of pokemon outside town hall. To their surprise Noctowl was actually shivering. 

"So it's happening again…" He said. "I'm afraid this isn't a bluff or anything of the sort." 

"Sir, you knew there were so many of them, didn't you?" One of the Growlith asked. "That's why it's been so hard to identify them. This is what happened to your team, isn't it?"

Noctowl didn't answer for a long time. He turned away from them. "Unfortunately, yes." 

"But why Team Sleuth?" Arcanine asked. "Out of all the Investigation Teams here, why them?" 

"They like to have their fun. They want a challenge, but no so much that they get hurt and have to wait longer for their next attack. Silver Rank teams are their main targets and it would seem that something about Team Sleuth has interested them. You noticed how much Team Sky had changed? But according to Aipom, both of them were energetic and willing to go the minute they were both awake. Aipom also seemed more upbeat when she was leaving their team HQ." 

"Has anyone been so… normal after going up against Weavile's gang?" Arcanine asked. 

"Yes. There have been a few. More than a few even. The morning afterwards, they're never seen or heard from again." Noctowl stiffened up. "I have to go somewhere. Tell Alakazam he's in charge. School is canceled today, if he asks." After that he flew off without any further explanation.

Aamira and Quill looked at each other, worried, and headed for the town's exit. 

Quill stopped when he was sure everyone in town was out of earshot. "He said anyone like us who aren't that badly effected by the Collectors end up never being heard from again." 

"Well what do you expect?" Aamira said. "They must have gone after them like we're about to do." 

"I knew you two couldn't take this sitting down." Aipom came out from the bushes. 

"You can't stop us!" Quill said to her. 

"I know." Aipom said softly. "You've really changed, you know? You might not have noticed, but I have. If something like this would have happened before, you would have curled up in your Treehouse shivering and unable to come out for days." 

"Was I really like that?" Quill asked. 

"You were." Nuzleaf stepped out of the bushes followed by Machop. "We haven't known you long, but just from our short time together we've seen how much braver you've become." 

"So we've both got something for the two of you." Machop pulled out something silver and handed one of each to Aamira and Quill. 

Aamira looked at the one he had handed her in disbelief. "But, aren't these your Aura Glasses?"

"We don't need them." Machop said. "You're our leaders and leaders can't operate without Aura Glasses. If our leaders can't operate, then neither can we." 

"Hey, don't forget about me." Haunter rose out of the ground. "You need to know where this place is, don't you? I can take you there." 

Quill's eyes started watering. "Thanks, everyone. We really appreciate this." 

"And Aipom." Aamira said. "We promise we'll get Caterpie and your Aura Glasses back." 

"And I believe you will." She said. "Good luck." 

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Quill was shivering violently. 

"Of course I'm sure. I come here for my deathday party every year." Haunter said. "How clever are they? Picking a dungeon that has a concealed entrance." 

Aamira looked around at the dying trees, dried up river, and the black cloudy sky. "I think I figured out why they call this the Forbidden Forest." 

"It's here." Haunter flew up to a stone wall and ran his finger along a pattern gouged in it. The pattern started glowing and a stone slab rose up from the ground revealing a staircase. "See? Told you I knew where we were." 

Quill took a deep breath. "Alright, let's go." 

The dungeon was almost empty. The members of Team Sleuth figured that all of the dungeon's pokemon were either all helping the Collectors or were chased away. 

"I don't like it in here…." Quill said. "How could all of these dead trees even get underground?"

"No one knows." Haunter turned to Aamira. "You've been pretty quiet lately. Is something up?" 

"I'm trying to think." She replied. "We're obviously walking right into a trap. We even know what the trap is, but what do we do about it?" 

"I came prepared." Quill pulled out a couple of orbs. "One of these is a foe-fear orb that makes them all terrified, and the other is a foe-seal orb, which makes all our enemies immobile." 

"It seems too easy." Aamira went back to thinking. 

The dungeon was long, but progression was easy due to the lack of pokemon. All of the traps that had been placed in the dungeon were also disarmed, which made it a lot easier. Nothing they were doing seemed to make any sense to Quill or Aamira, though Haunter had obviously seen it before.

"Why would they make it so easy?" Quill asked a while later. 

"Maybe to give us a sense of security to get us to lower our guard? But no, that can't be it; after yesterday we won't be lowering our guard just like that. Especially when we know they're nearby." Aamira said.

"Then why?"

"Hold up." Haunter said. "We're almost at the end of the dungeon." 

They descended down the last staircase and looked around. At the other end of the room they had gone into was a doorway leading into another room.

Aamira shivered. "This looks exactly like the last dungeon we were in." Aamira turned to Haunter. "Are you coming with us? You know, in case we get into trouble again?"

"Of course." He said. "Scaring you two is fun. I don't want to have to give that up." 

"Well, let's go." Quill was shaking, but led the way into the last room. "Hello?" 

A light appeared at the end of the room. The light was from Weavile who was holding a Luminous Orb. After a few second the light got brighter and lit up the whole room. "I knew you two would come. What's this? A new friend? I'm sorry, Haunter, but this offer isn't for you." 

"Offer?" Quill asked. 

"Yes, of course. Nearly every Investigation Team we've trapped ends up heartbroken and unable to continue, so why do you all look so confident?" Weavile asked. "Either way, bravery like that can't go unnoticed. We want you to join us." Some pokemon dropped down from the ceiling. "And by us, I mean all of us." 

"It's for the best." One of the other pokemon said. "All will be explained eventually, but for now joining us is your best chance." 

"Our best chance of what?" Quill asked. "What more could you possibly do to us?" 

"Maybe nothing more to you, but…" Weavile turned and looked towards the back of the room. Caterpie looked really badly hurt and was struggling to try to move. "You're an Investigation Team. We can't trust you, but once you join us, everything will be made clear."

"Why do you hate Investigation Teams so much?" Aamira snapped at him. 

Weavile didn't answer for a long time. He put his claw up to his eye. It was then that they really noticed for the first time a giant scar over his eye. "I can never forget or forgive what Investigation Teams have done to me and others like me. They ruin everything. That's all I can tell you now. But when you join us—"

"What makes you think we're joining you?" Aamira said. "So that's why no one ever comes back? Who in the right mind would want to join you?" 

There were shouts of protest from everyone in the room. Apparently everyone wanted to join them. 

"That's enough." With Weavile's words, everyone fell silent. "They don't need to know what we're like yet. And why should they care? They're Investigation Team members after all. Or were, at least." Weavile held up their Aura Glasses. 

Houndoom and Gliscor joined Weavile. 

"We were an Investigation Team once before." Houndoom said. "We were Team Night. We almost got to the master rank before we realized what was going on." 

"Investigation Teams are made to serve other people. That's all they're for." Gliscor clawed the ground. "Teams become selfish and hotheaded. When that happens they'll do anything without asking questions to get what they want. They don't care who they're working for or if when they're 'returning' a stolen item or if, in fact, they had taken it from the rightful owner and not a thief." 

"There's never any way to know if what you're doing is 'justice'." Houndoom said. "For instance, how do you know if that Mime Jr. thief you caught a while ago was really the thief? Well he might have been a thief, but he might have been collecting all that stuff for something important. Did that ever cross your mind, or were you just so excited by your first real investigation that you didn't even care?" 

"He was a liar." Quill said. "Everything he ever said way a lie until we caught him. How could we ever think that someone like him was actually the good guy?" 

Weavile laughed. "So we're the bad guys too and nothing else? Honestly. People call us anti investigators, but they're wrong! Investigation teams are the real 'antis'. We're the real investigators. We check everything before we make a move to make sure no one would get hurt who doesn't deserve it." 

Aamira shook with anger. "You say that, but then why do you attack innocent Investigation Teams who aren't even as greedy as you've said? And besides, I thought you weren't going to tell us anything before we joined you." 

Why do we attack innocent teams? To stop them before they lose their innocence! All Investigation Teams end up evil before long." His hand moved to the scar on his eye again. "Why are we telling you all of this? Because it's the only way you'll possibly trust us. And besides, you have no way of knowing that we've told you everything." 

"Enough Weavile." Houndoom said. "They're not easily swayed." She walked over to Caterpie. "Join us or you'll pay with Caterpie's life." 

"Wait, I have another idea." Weavile said. "If you two can defeat me, I'll admit that I was wrong about you both and all four of you can go. Caterpie included. Of course if you do battle me, Haunter can't fight. This is between me and the two of you. Deal?" 

"And how do we know if you're not going to cheat?" Quill said. 

Weavile handed his bag to Gliscor. "Better? You two can use all the items you want and I'll fight you empty handed." He turned to the crowd of pokemon. "Everyone else stay out of this."

"So what do you get if you win?" Aamira asked. 

"What else? You both join us."

Aamira clenched her teeth. "I was expecting that."

Weavile smirked and ran towards them. He used Fury Swipes on Aamira. Quill knocked him off with a Flame Wheel. Aamira used force palm and knocked him into the wall. Weavile got back up and barely looked hurt at all. Quill and Aamira were hopeful though; if he was even slightly hurt from that it meant that they had a chance. 

Weavile used Icy Wind. Both Aamira and Quill became immobile in the icy blast. Quill opened his mouth and a bunch of stars flew towards Weavile and were just enough to stop the Icy Wind attack. 

Quill looked at Weavile, obviously stunned by what had happened. "That was… Swift?" 

"Cool! Two new moves in one day!" Aamira said confidently. 

Quill looked at her confused. "Two new moves?" 

Aamira glanced back at him. "Just watch and wait. You'll see in a while." 

Weavile raised his claws into a striking position. "So you have a new attack also? Then I guess I'll just have to knock you out before you can use it! Now I wonder how badly that would hurt your pride." Weavile ran at Aamira and used Fury Swipes. It amazed her that Weavile didn't even think it was strange that she wasn't defending herself. Weavile knocked her away and Aamira fell on the ground. 

"Now would be a good time for that new move!" Quills said. 

'No, not yet.' Quill seemed to get the message, though he could only feel her emotions and not hear her thoughts.

Aamira stood up and faced Weavile.

Weavile smirked. "You're stronger than I thought." He used Icy Wind and nearly froze Aamira before he stopped. "I'll finish you off now!" Weavile ran towards her. At fist it appeared that she wasn't going to defend herself again, but then she started glowing and knocked Weavile deep into the wall behind them. 

"What was that?" Quill asked. 

"Reversal." Aamira said. "I was reading last night to help quiet my mind when I found out about this move. To my surprise, Riolu actually learn it easily, so I stayed up half of the night training so I could learn it. I thought it could come in handy with a tough opponent. It's a move that gets stronger the more damage I've taken." 

Weavile got up. He looked just as badly hurt as Aamira now. "Figures… That's just like an Investigation Team to pull a fast one like that." 

"No one says 'pull a fast one' anymore!" Quill said. "Have you been doing this for so long that you don't know anything about modern society? How do you even know that Investigation Teams didn't change?" 

"Investigation Teams will never change as long as there's greed!" Weavile's eyes started glowing. 

Aamira and Quill looked around at the other pokemon. All their eyes started glowing also. All of them jumped from where they were standing and attacked at once. Quill and Aamira weren't able to defend themselves from it. All of the pokemon backed off after a while and Aamira and Quill laid on the ground unable to move. 

"You said… it was just us against you!" Quill said weakly. 

"I did, didn't I? But you're not the only one with a strong move. That was an attack. A long time ago before I evolved, I spent weeks learning that move. It's called Beat Up. Technically, since they attacked because of my Beat Up, it's not going against what I said." Weavile laughed. "You're either not walking out of here as an Investigation Team, or you're not walking out of here at all." 

Quill struggled to get up. "Dishonest… Greedy… Isn't that how you would describe Investigation Teams? Because that's a lot like how I see you!" 

Weavile jumped. "You don't get it." 

"No! You don't get it! You're hurting innocent people just to prevent what you think will happen! How can you know for sure? You only care about getting rid of the Investigation Teams. That's greedy enough, isn't it? And that attack… Either way you look at it, you said that they wouldn't be involved in this and they were! You're just as greedy and dishonest as you think we are!" 

"I'm doing this for the good of everyone!" He said angrily. 

"No! You're not! You're doing this for your own selfish beliefs and for revenge." Quill knelt down next to Aamira. Her breathing was wheezy and uneven and she was out cold. "Do you think you've done any of this for the good of Aamira? All the people you've hurt… That Togepi and Togetic weren't even an Investigation Team. I can't even believe what you've been saying to remotely true."

Weavile looked around at all the other pokemon. They were all looking around as uncertainly as Weavile. He turned around and looked at Houndoom and Gliscor. They both turned to each other and looked back at him uncertainly.

Weavile turned back to Quill. "I don't get it. Why do you care so much about her?" Weavile's hand almost went back to the scar on his eye, but he stopped himself.

"I don't know." Quill said. "She's my friend and that's good enough for me. The whole reason I even wanted to become an Investigation Team member was because of my little brother. He was sick and I couldn't do anything to save him. Ever since then, I've wanted to become an Investigation Team to help people. Aamira just happened to get caught in the middle of this when she lost her memory. Meeting her was just a chance encounter really, but she's become like an older sister to me." His eyes filled with tears. "The injuries don't look life threatening, but I can't stand to see her like this!" 

"And what about Team Sky? Do they feel the same way?" 

"Of course they do! When we were all in school together they defended me from other pokemon who were always saying I couldn't make it. It felt like everyone was always against me and I couldn't do anything. But Aipom and Mankey were always there to keep me going. I want to repay them for everything they've done for me… Done for us… They've helped both of us." 

Weavile sighed. "Then maybe you'll pay them back with this." He through his bag to Quill.

Quill opened it. "Our Aura Glasses? But why are you giving these back?" 

"Wait!" Weavile raised is claws. "I'm giving them to you on one condition. Don't forget what I told you about Investigation Teams! Don't believe that just because of you and Team Sky all Investigation Teams are completely honest and good at heart! Tell her this when she waked up too. And Team Sky when you get back. Never judge before you know someone, and never take sides before you know what those sides are. Be truthful and just. Listen to everyone you meet and figure out what their point of view is. There are different ways someone can be right. Do that for me. For us! Everyone! If you really want to protect people, promise you'll do this!" 

"I… I promise." Quill looked up. "Wait! Why do you trust us like this? How do you know I'm not being dishonest now?"

"I don't." He opened a secret doorway in the back. "But I guess if I want you two to trust me, I should start by trusting you. If anyone could save the Investigators, it's Team Sleuth." 

"Save the… Investigators?" 

"Keep in mind though that I'll keep an ear out for Team Sleuth and Team Sky. If I hear that you're doing anything we don't agree with, we'll be back." 

"I… I understand…" Quill watched them leave. When they were gone he looked around for Haunter. He had disappeared somewhere again. "Figures…" Quill's last bit of energy that he had been clinging onto finally left him and he collapsed and blacked out. 

Noctowl landed back in Vine City. 

"You're back already?" Alakazam said. "I suppose your search was unsuccessful?" 

"Unfortunately." Noctowl ruffled his windblown feathers. "You remember the last time we met Team Night?" 

"Of course. It didn't end well then, did it?" 

"No. I have to put things right somehow." 

"Noctowl!" Arcanine ran towards him as fast as she could. "There's trouble! Team Sleuth is missing! According to Aipom, they must have gone to Forbidden Forest." 

"Forbidden Forest? There?" Noctowl spread his wings. "How strange. It's always said that when looking for something to look in the place least expected, but if that was true, wouldn't the place you most expect it to be, be the least expected?" 

"I don't get it, sir." Arcanine said.

Noctowl chuckled and flew off. Within minutes he was flying over the Forbidden Forest. 

Haunter rose out of the ground under him and flew up to Noctowl. "Noctowl! There's trouble! Team Sleuth faced off with Weavile! They're both down!" 

"What?" Noctowl scanned the area with his enhanced vision and found Team Sleuth in the deepest part of the dungeon. A little more scanning and he found a secret entrance. "Haunter. Come with me." 

"Ow…" Quill got up and rubbed his head. "What happened?" Someone slapped him in the face. "Ow!" 

"That was extremely reckless what you two did!" It was Aipom. "I told you it was too dangerous!" 

"We're okay, aren't we?" Aamira sat up. 

"Hardly!" Mankey snapped at them. "Don't ever do anything like that again!" 

Aamira looked around. "Isn't this Town Hall? What are we doing here?" Aamira rubbed her head. "Now I remember… We were fighting Weavile and all those pokemon attacked us at once. Does that mean that we were defeated?" 

"Sort of." Quill took Weavile's bag off his back and dumped out the Aura Glasses. "I had a little talk with him after you were knocked unconscious." 

"Our Aura Glasses?" Aipom picked hers up. "Great! This means we can be Investigation Teams again!"

"This is great!" Mankey hugged both Quill and Aamira at the same time. "Thank you both so much!" 

"We can't breathe!" Quill yelled. 

Mankey let go and stepped back. "Sorry!" 

"And what about me?" Haunter came out of the ground in front of them. "I led them to the Forbidden Forest and found Noctowl when they were down!" 

"Thank you too, Haunter." Aipom said. "And you Noctowl." 

Aamira and Quill hadn't even noticed him until then. He was standing at the other end of the room looking at something. "You shouldn't be thanking me for anything. I guess I've never changed and I didn't realize how I was changing others…" 

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked. 

"Look at this." Noctowl handed her a picture frame. In it was a picture of Houndoom, a Weavile, a Gliscor, and a Hoothoot. "This Hoothoot… was me…" 

"Wait, why are you in a picture together?" Quill asked. 

Noctowl sighed. "Weavile was my leader. I was a member of Team Night a long time ago."

Aamira and Quill jumped. 

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. I was being chased by a pack of Zangoose one day and they saved me. I only wanted to become stronger after that. I followed them. Weavile apparently knew I had been following them the whole time. It was amazing even then how strong they were. I pleaded with them to let me join their team and they accepted.

"At first it was hard. Houndoom and Gliscor were always really harsh towards me. Weavile seemed to be the only one of them that liked me. He trained with me night and day so I could get stronger. One night when we were training I happened to evolve in the light of the full moon. Quickly after that, I soon became second in command in Team Night. 

"I always thought that after I was no longer the little kid they had just saved by chance that Weavile was starting to change. He started, instead of taking the most drastic missions, taking whichever paid more. We weren't leveling up as fast, but we had become rich and famous in the west. I guess it got to our heads after a while. We started claiming that we could defeat any pokemon that crossed our paths. Needless to say, we got some difficult missions after that. Too difficult. We were defeated time and time again and all of us wanted to know why. I guess we were too arrogant to see what was happening to us. We started drifting apart. We became more like acquaintances than friends. 

"One night I couldn't take it any more. It was a full moon just like the night I had evolved. I went out to fly in the cool night air and I spotted a struggle on the ground. A Kirlia and Kadabra were fighting against a bunch of pokemon and they were losing badly. I swooped in and chased off their attackers. Of course they were amazed to see Noctowl of Team Night coming to their rescue, but then they asked me something that set me straight again. They asked me to teach them everything I knew about being in an Investigation Team. Finally I remembered. It was the same thing that had happened when I met Team Night.

"The next day I resigned from Team Night to become the leader of Team Psy. Weavile thought that I had somehow got the idea in my head that I was better than him. I started arguing with him and trying to tell him to look in a mirror and see what he had become. He didn't take it lightly though. We fought for a while. Weavile was still stronger than me, but his arrogance got the better of him. When he tried his Beat Up attack, I flew into the air and nearly clawed his eye out. It was horrible to see, but I had finally proven the point that Team Night was becoming to hot-headed. I went off as the leader of Team Psy and we soon became legends. The members of Team Night vanished and soon faded from everyone's memories. 

"I made sure than none of us ever forgot about why we were an Investigation Team; to help people in need. We sometimes even turned down the rewards if we saw that the clients were too poor and would be ruined if they paid us. If we were ever rewarded greatly, we gave a portion of the money to someone we knew needed it. It wasn't long before a group of pokemon appeared on the scene that people were calling the Collectors. Everyone was looking to us to solve the problem. 

"But we didn't find the Collectors; they found us. My heart shattered upon seeing them. That scar over Weavile's eye was almost enough to make me just give up then. We didn't give up though, and we won. We chased them off, though none of us had the heart to turn them in and we collapsed, tired from the fighting. Technically they did end our careers, because we realized that we had actually started to become arrogant by going after them without thinking of any consequences, but they didn't take our Aura Glasses. We still have them."

"But why didn't you try to convince Weavile to stop what he was doing?" Quill asked. 

"Because I knew it was my fault. If I had stayed, I might have been able to fix things before they got too out of hand. Weavile was confused and didn't know if he should blame himself or me, so he blamed all Investigation Teams. Either way, he wanted a fight with us. During the fight, this is what he said. 'We were young, arrogant, and weak. Not anymore. Investigation Teams will some day all be corrupted by greed, hatred, the need for revenge, and possibly many other things. That's why we're doing this. We're neither outlaws nor an Investigation Team. We're simply in the middle and forced to be as such to destroy all Investigation Teams. Destiny has chosen us and this is what Investigation Teams have done to us. Specifically Team Night and Psy! Now, those two teams shall be no more!' And he got what he wanted. We traveled, battered and bruised to Sylva. We were brought to Vine City where we quickly fell into the life of leisure that we had never experienced before.

"The town elder took me in as his son. I didn't understand why at first; I thought it was just because we were both Noctowl. But then one day he was stricken with a horrible disease. As he was dying, he revealed to me that he really was my father. It just so happened that all the attacks I knew when I hatched were the ones he knew. I was his real son. After he died, I vowed to protect this city however possible. So did Kirlia and Kadabra, who by that time had evolved into Gallade and Alakazam. I became the town leader, Alakazam took up the job of running the school and made it better than ever before, and Gallade opened up a Dojo so he could teach Investigation Teams past their academy days. Not once did I forget the words that Weavile had said to me, and not once had I not wondered when he would be coming back." 

"Wait." Quill said. "I just remembered something Weavile said. You said that Weavile wanted to put an end to Investigation Teams, right? But back there, Weavile's parting words were, 'If anyone could save the Investigators, it's Team Sleuth.' I don't get it." 

"Weavile thought he wanted to save pokemon from themselves and save those that might eventually be caught in the crossfire. But now, it seems that they want to save the teams, so they can save pokemon. He's a bit like a kingly figure I suppose. He's always trying to figure out how to make things better. Me quitting Team Night was the turning point, and whatever you must have said to him, healed him completely. Though the scar on his eye prevails, all emotional scars are now gone." 

"Oh, that reminds me. Weavile said we had to promise something to keep our Aura Glasses. If we don't, he'll come back." Quill said. 

"And what was that?" Aipom asked. 

"I'm trying to remember exactly what it was that he said. 'Never judge before you know someone, and never take sides before you know what those sides are. Be truthful and just. Listen to everyone you meet and figure out what their point of view is. There are different ways someone can be right. Do that for me. For us. Everyone. If you really want to protect people, promise you'll do this.' That's what he said." 

"I still find it hard to believe that he was the good guy the whole time. Wouldn't that make us the villains?" Aipom said. 

"No one was good and no one was evil." Aamira said. "We just saw things differently so we thought of them as evil and they thought of us as evil. But if there are so many viewpoints, is there any true evil? And with all those view points, someone would have to be wrong."

"I think that's what Weavile meant." Quill said. "He wants us to help him bring peace to the world. With so many view points, it's hard for people to understand each other. It's like a code in a way; one that even the Aura Glasses can't see through. If we can crack the code, then people might truly be able to understand each other and the world will be at peace."

"That's a nice thought." Noctowl said. "But the only way there could ever truly be peace is to make everyone have the same viewpoint. That could only lead to a monarchy and possible world domination by one or a few pokemon. I'm afraid as long as there are free thinkers, things will always be seen in black and white. But if there were no free thinkers, there would only be dull chaos and no answers for any new questions that may come up. New diseases would never be cured, and nothing new would ever be learned. It would eventually lead to mass extinction of every living thing. When there are different viewpoints and no complete peace, things balance out and we can survive, even thrive."

"I don't like the idea though!" Quill said. "So the world can never be at peace? That's a horrible thought!"

"Maybe so. But that's why we cast things in the shadows of light and dark. Good and evil. It's only natural to do so. But there may be a way to help the peace. What if the world was filled with free thinkers? It is and always will be. But then there are the few free thinkers, who listen to what others think. When they all ban together, people's voices are heard and people's views seen. That's what Weavile was saying. After all he said, he really just meant 'keep the peace as best as possible.' Get it? Because that's how you think. If only all Investigation Teams were like that. I'm very fortunate to have so many so near by."

Aamira had drifted off long ago, but was still somewhat listening. She decided a long time ago that she wanted to help people. Every day she would see little kids, and a lot of times they would get themselves into danger. Seeing everyone like they were good deep down would make her want to save them too. She had thought of this a few times before, but then she would remember that she wasn't a Riolu. She's still a human though she usually keeps it a secret. Every time she thinks about her being in an Investigation Team, another part of her tells her she wasn't meant to be. But does anything really happen by chance?

"Aamira!" Quill said. "You're spacing out. Is something wrong?" 

"No, I just…" Aamira shook her head. "This is all so weird to me. I have the feeling that something big is about to happen." 

"Delivery! Delivery!" 

"Who could that be?" Noctowl opened the door and everyone went outside. A Delibird swooped down and landed in front of them. He was breathing really hard and looked like he had come a long way. 

"Are you okay?" Aamira said. 

"Yes! Fine!" he said. "I'm the Special Services messenger! I deliver messages all over the country, but all of them are vocal so they'll never be stolen while I'm delivering them. I have a message for Team Sleuth." 

"You're a psychic!" Quill said to Aamira. 

"It was a fluke!" She said quickly. 

Delibird held out his wing. "I'll need to see your Aura Glasses to verify that you're Team Sleuth. You look like them, but it's just protocol." 

"And that was just lucky." Aamira said. 

Both of them handed Delibird their Aura Glasses. He looked at them and handed them back after a while. He looked over at Team Sky. "Noctowl I trust, but you two will have to leave for this."

"They're our friends." Quill said. "We would tell them anyway."

Delibird looked at Quill for a second then nodded. "Alright, here's the message. 'To the members of Team Sleuth from Sceptile. Venusaur and I both hope you have been doing well. He got hurt earlier today so this message is just from me. It might be better that way; I'm not sure if Venusaur would agree with what I'm about to say. While we've been successfully exploring the Caverns of Ice, we've reached a dead end at the Ice Temple, which is in the back of the cavern. Though we've never been on an official mission together, we need more help for this. I've given Delibird a map piece of Glacies. Don't leave as soon as you get this message! Spend the rest of the day preparing for the trip, then head to Crystal in the northernmost point of Glacies. By the time you get here, Venusaur should be back on his feet.' And here's the map piece." Delibird handed it to Aamira.

"Sounds like they've given you a mission you can't refuse." Noctowl said. "Good luck to both of you." 

Aamira looked down on the map and ran her finger over Crystal. For the first time since she could remember, she was heading out of the country.


	16. Chapter 16 Glacies

Quill and Aamira were going over a checklist they had made for their journey to the north. They had gone over it about a hundred times yesterday, but they were excited then. This time they wanted to go over it to make sure they didn't forget anything before they left.

"You two are so lucky…" Machop said. "I haven't been to Crystal before. Here's something I head about it though: It's called Crystal because at a certain time of year, the sun comes up in a perfect position and shines on all the ice-covered trees, making it look like billions of crystals." 

Nuzleaf had been shaking the whole time since they started talking about the north. "You two have fun, but I'm perfectly fine with staying right here!" 

"And try to hurry back." Haunter had joined their team the previous day. He liked scaring them, but he would probably be able to help them whenever they get depressed. "Scaring these two isn't as fun." 

"Right." Quill put the loop on his bag around his neck and one of his arms. 

"Looks like that's everything." Aamira said. 

"Oh, not yet. I almost forgot." Nuzleaf rushed back to his room and came back with a couple of scarves. "I hear that humans have this tradition to give presents around the time it starts snowing because of different holidays. Since you two are going to the north, I made you these as presents." 

"How do you know about humans?" Machop said. 

"Don't you two start fighting now or I'll lick the both of you!" Haunter said angrily. 

"Thanks, Nuzleaf." Aamira said. "And don't worry; we'll be sure to find something for you three."

Quill and Aamira put their new scarves into their bags for later and headed out. It was bright and sunny now, but they knew that soon the sun might disappear for longer than they were used to, so they enjoyed every minute of it. 

Their plan for getting there the fastest was to cut through a mountain range and head into a dungeon called Icy Canyon, which would lead to a river that came straight from the mountains past Crystal. It was a shame that they wouldn't be able to see the rest of Glacies since the mountain pass ran straight through the country and ended before Glacies.

The terrain started getting rougher as they went. As soon as they reached a bridge that headed straight into the mountains, a scary turtle-like pokemon with a tree on it's shell came between them and the bridge. 

"The name's Torterra. Let me guess." He said to them. "You two want to take a shortcut to Crystal?" 

"That's right." Quill said. "So if you don't mind, would you let us through?" 

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He said. "Lots of people try going through here to take a shortcut, but with all these mountains that you have to cross, you'd be better just going around. Besides, this time of year the weather in the mountains is unpredictable." 

"You can't be serious!" Quill took out the map piece and laid it on the ground. "Okay, this is where we are now." He pointed to the bridge in the mountains. "And to get to the rest of Glacies, we have to go around to the north-west. It looks a lot longer that way though, but I guess we didn't take into account that we would have to go over all these mountains."

Aamira looked to the mountains. "I bet there's no food in there. We might have spent so long in there that we ran out of food and would either starve or freeze to death."

"Hey, judging by the time, I think you would be able to reach the Village of Snow by nightfall." Torterra said. 

Aamira looked at where it was on the map. It was the closest to Crystal, but still far away. It would be a step in the right direction, though. "Okay, thanks." 

Both of them headed out. Behind them they heard Torterra muttering something that sounded like an incantation to them. Aamira got the sense that there was some sort of magic about the country, though she didn't know what it was. 

Quill looked like he was about to burst from happiness as they crossed the border into Glacies. As Torterra had said, they arrived in the Village of Snow right before nightfall. 

"If it isn't Team Sleuth!" Glaceon walked up to them. "I never would have expected to see you here. Wait, you wouldn't be the Investigation team I'm supposed to take to the Ice Temple, would you?" 

"That's us." Quill said. 

"Why Team Overgrow needs your help, I'll never know. I'm getting worried though. They've been in the temple for days. They're not in any trouble, but I think they've become obsessed with trying to figure out some mystery they don't even know is real." Glaceon noticed Aamira shivering. "My goodness! Don't you know that this territory is only good for fire, water, and ice types? Follow me and I'll take you to an Inn to stay the night." 

Inside the Inn it seemed like every pokemon in Glacies must have been there. 

"Hey Glaceon, why are all these pokemon here?" Aamira asked. 

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Glaceon said. "Tomorrow's the Crystal Festival, so every pokemon in Glacies has come here to stay the night. Everyone will be heading to Crystal tomorrow for the festival."

"Hey do you think that's what Machop was talking about?" Quill said. 

"Since we're heading that way, we might as well check it out." Aamira said. 

"You might want to talk to Crystal's elder then." Glaceon led them to a pond on the other side of the room. "She's usually here by now." 

Some bubbled rose to the surface of the water and a long neck rose out. "Hello Glaceon. I'm sorry I'm a bit late." She turned to Team Sleuth. "So you're the Investigation Team that Team Overgrow sent for? They're getting a little frustrated." 

"This is Lapras, the Elder of Crystal and the leader of Glacies." Glaceon said to Team Sleuth. "Lapras this is Aamira and Quill of Team Sleuth. They wanted to see the Crystal Festival on their way to the temple." 

"Yes, that's fine. We love visitors to see our festival. Glacies is known as the joy country. We don't usually make enemies, so everyone's welcome." She smiled. "You'll have to get there before noon tomorrow." 

"How did this Crystal Festival start?" Aamira asked. 

"Oh I love telling the story." Lapras said. "Long ago, deep in the Ice Temple, lived the snow spirit. She was powerful and kind and the symbol of hope. It was said that the snow spirit would coat everything in ice on the last day of the sun. When the sun dips above the earth for the last time of the year, everything would begin to sparkle in the light of the dying sun, reminding the people of Glacies that it will always return. Before the snow spirit, people say no one in Glacies ever saw the sun. They had no hope. After the snow spirit showed up, the world tilted and turned so that Glacies would see the sun. Now in the winter, we never see the sun, but we know that the sun will always come back and in the summer will never set."

"Wow. I wonder if there are any legends like that in Sylva." Quill said. "We have the flower festival, but that's not really from any legend."

"The legends are linked to the crystals. Sylva has a crystal called the Grace-Seed, doesn't it?" Lapras asked. 

"You know about the Grace-Seed?" Aamira said. 

"Of course. The country leaders know about all of the crystals. Ironic, isn't it, that a city named Crystal actually had the crystal stolen from it." 

"Oh yea. I remember Glaceon saying something about the Fiery-Gem being taken." Quill said.

"Yes, and that's why Team Overgrow came. You see, no one's seen the snow spirit in hundreds of years. It's said to live in the deepest part of the temple, but all anyone's ever seen is one room. They think there's another part of the temple that might even have a treasure that the thieves were after. They think they took the Fiery-Gem after mistaking it for a treasure." 

"Well we'll figure out all of that stuff tomorrow." Glaceon said. "For now I'll show you two to your room. It's one of the only ones with a fire place." 

Quill lit a fire in the fireplace. Aamira didn't bother to take her scarf off and curled up in front of it. After she was warm enough she sat up again, stretched, and yawned. "I never really thought of the north being so cold…" she said. 

"It doesn't bother me one bit." Quill said. "You look half frozen though!" Both of them laughed.

Aamira stared hypnotically at the fire in the fireplace. "It seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?"

Quill turned to her. "What does?"

"Remember? When you found me by Shroud Lake. It feels like a long time ago, but it wasn't really. It was only a little over a month ago." 

"That's true. I never really thought about it but it does feel like that happened a long time ago. We haven't really found anything out about that yet. But Aamira, I know you've said before that you would want to go back, but do you really want to go back to being a human? You don't even remember what it's like." 

Aamira hugged her knees. "I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I'm not really sure anymore. I know how to be a pokemon now, but I don't remember anything about being a human. I want to be a human again because that's what I was born as, but wouldn't it be strange if suddenly I was two or three feet taller, I didn't have a tail, and there weren't these annoying and so far useless aura sensors on either side of my head? Besides, if I was a human again I would still have lost my memory. I wouldn't have anywhere to go." 

"So maybe it's somewhat of a good thing that you turned into a Riolu when you lost your memory. So which would you prefer? If you only had to go through one of these, would you rather lose your memory and stay a human, or turn into a pokemon and keep your memory?"

"I never thought about that. Well if I was still a human, but I lost my memory, I would be confused and not know where to go. I don't think I would be as willing to turn to pokemon in that case. If I were a pokemon and I didn't lose my memory, I would probably just be really annoying to anyone I met while I tried to get back home. I wouldn't be used to being a Riolu either. That could have devastating effects I suppose. I guess this way I didn't really have anything to look back to, so I adjusted faster. I have to admit, it has been a lot of fun in this world. Sometimes scary or frustrating, but I'm glad I got to meet you and everyone else."

"But there's something I've been wondering about. Amnesia, sure everyone's heard of that. But I don't think I've ever heard of a human turning into a pokemon. How is it even possible? And what happens sometimes when you touch something. You just think something and learn all about whatever it is that you're touching. Maybe you always had the ability, or maybe it's something else you got when you turned into a pokemon." 

"No, I had it before." Aamira didn't even really think about what she was saying. "Well, I guess that's just the feeling I get. It's familiar, so I think I must have had the ability before then." She yawned and looked outside. "It's so dark. And according to Lapras, tomorrow's the last day the sun will rise." 

"We'll have no problem getting to sleep, of course. Hey I just realized. When Torterra said that he knew that we could make it to this town before sunset because of the time, I think he meant the time of year. He knew that when we got up here the sun would just be on the horizon."

"Yea, I wonder what this place looks like in full light. It's practically been dark ever since we got here." Aamira stretched. "I know it's probably still early, but this dark and cold is too much. I'm going to fall asleep standing up." Aamira crawled onto one of the beds and fell asleep. 

Glaceon woke up Quill a few hours later. It was still dark out. They tried to wake Aamira up, but they were having trouble. 

"This usually happens to people who aren't used to cold or dark." Glaceon shook Aamira harder than before. "Aamira! We have to move now!" 

Aamira rolled over, looked up at Quill and Glaceon and sat up. "It's still dark…" 

"We need to leave while it's still dark or we'll miss it. There will only be about fifteen minutes of light before the sun disappears for the winter." 

"Dad?" An Eevee came into the room. "Are we leaving soon? I don't want to miss it!" 

Quill looked at Glaceon. "Dad? When did that happen? Do Leafeon and Espeon know?" 

"Well, Leafeon does. I'm afraid that Espeon might…" Glaceon shivered. "She's my sister but she scares me sometimes. Her son left a while ago, and I don't want to…" 

"Yea, I get it." Quill said. "Well, let's move out." 

Aamira yawned and stretched and followed everyone else. 

"Will you stop that?" Quill said after a while. 

"Stop what?" Aamira asked. 

"That humming! You've been humming the same thing over and over again." 

"I have?" Aamira hummed the same song again. "Huh… That's weird. I didn't even notice until you said that." 

"Mom!" Eevee ran off in front of them and hugged another Glaceon that had appeared through the dark of the winter morning. 

"I was starting to worry about you all. It's almost sunrise. You two are the team that Team Overgrow called for? I'm Crystal. Just follow me." The Crystal led them to a large ring that everyone was standing around. It was big enough for everyone in Glacies to stand around without any problem seeing. There was even a pond at the far side that Lapras had swum into from the water underneath the ice. 

Some ripples of light came from the ice in the center of the circle. A white ghost pokemon rose out of the ice. It started dancing and playing a song on a flute that looked like it was made of ice. 

"That's the song you've been humming all morning…" Quill whispered to Aamira. 

Aamira wasn't listening. The music had put her into a trance. 

Lucky for them, they were facing the south. Everyone facing the same direction they were saw the sun come up first. After a few minutes the light had reached the highest point it was going to and the ice all around them shone with the light. Everyone cheered and watched the sun starting to set. The festival wasn't really over yet, but some people had started to talk, so they figured it was okay for them to talk. 

"Aamira!" Quill said, snapping her out of the trance. "Looks like it hypnotized you!" 

"There's an old legend about that song." Crystal said. "They say that the snow spirit sang that song when she first came to Glacies. If anyone falls into a trance like you just did, it means that they're worthy to enter the temple depths." 

"You never told me that one!" Eevee jumped on her head. 

"How do you know that?" Aamira asked. 

"Crystal is the Ice Temple guardian." Glaceon Explained. "She decides who can go to the temple. She was even named Crystal after the city."

"Temple guardian?" Quill said in amazement. 

"That's me. And Eevee here is next in line. I'm trying to teach him everything I can about the temple. Now keep in mind it might be hard to get there. After the sun sets for the winter, it will be nearly pitch black." 

"No problem!" Quill said. "I can just light the flame on my back." 

"No you can't!" Crystal said. "There is light and dark. The moon and stars penetrate the darkness in the eternal night and the clouds block the sun in the eternal day. By making a fire, you banish darkness and everything is thrown out of order. It happened once before and a horrible storm ravaged the land and the sun didn't sine for two whole years." 

"How could something like that happen?" Aamira asked. 

"It's just an old legend. Everyone knows what really happens. The snow spirit hibernates. The stars and moon shine the whole time, so they're not a bother. When a fire suddenly lights up the darkness it's bright enough to disturb the snow spirit. Ice types don't like fire, so the snow spirit sends an unstoppable storm that even lasts through the summer." 

The sun had set completely and everyone was sealed in darkness. Even with the stars, there wasn't enough light to see. 

"So what do we do now?" Quill asked. 

"It's still possible to get there in the dark; it will just take longer. But according to legend, the way to the Ice Temple will be lit for those chosen to enter." Crystal said. 

"The way to the temple will be lit?" Aamira said. "How is that possible?" 

"Look!" Eevee pointed up at the sky. A sliver of green had stretched across the sky. It expanded and turned different colors. It was green, pink, purple, and yellow and it lit up the whole sky. Everyone around looked up at it in amazement.

"It's an aurora!" Aamira said. She watched it rippling through the sky towards the mountains. "Let me guess. It's shining above the path to the ice temple?" 

"Yes. I've memorized that path perfectly. It's definitely shining directly above the path to the temple." Crystal said. 

"Well what are we waiting for?" Eevee ran out ahead and they all followed. 

Aamira sighed. "You know, when we ran into Torterra by that bridge I thought he was muttering some sort of incantation. I had the feeling that there was some sort of magic here, but this is amazing." 

"A Torterra?" Glaceon said. "At the border of Glacies? That doesn't make much sense." 

"He told us that going through the mountains would take longer and that we would be able to make it to the Village of Snow by nightfall if we went around the long way." Quill said. 

Crystal skidded suddenly to a halt. "But that's not true. There's a mountain path that leads straight here. It would have taken half a day." 

"But that's not what Torterra said." Quill said. 

"I guess if we had gone that way we would have ended up at the ice Temple so soon that we would have missed the festival." Aamira said. 

"I guess the snow spirit wanted you to see it." Glaceon said. 

"That reminds me. That pokemon that was dancing and playing the flute…" 

"That wasn't the snow spirit. That was Frosslass. She represents the snow spirit at the festival. What better pokemon is there? She's an ice type and a ghost type. An ice ghost; the closest anyone could come to a snow spirit." 

"This is the entrance to Ice Cavern." Glaceon said. "This leads to the Ice Temple, which is actually in the peak of this mountain." Glaceon, Crystal, and Eevee led the way into the dungeon. 

Something strange happened as they were walking through the dungeon. All the dungeon pokemon gathered around them, but they didn't attack. 

"I think they're glad to see you." Crystal said to Aamira. 

A Snorunt appeared out of nowhere and attacked Quill. Aamira used Force Palm and scared it away. 

"They don't seem to like you much though." Glaceon said to Quill. "I understand that though. Ice types don't like fire at all." 

"I haven't lit my fire and I haven't used fire to attack. So why are they only attacking me?" Quill said. 

"Well apparently I'm like the chosen one or something, and they protect the temple." Aamira said. "On the other hand you're still a fire type so they probably don't trust you." 

"When will I not be hated for being a fire type pokemon?" Quill said. 

"Oh stop it! Everyone in Sylva trusts us now! You made Weavile trust us and he hates Investigation Teams. He's an ice type too you know? You would probably be the last person he would trust."

"I don't know." Quill smirked. "Why did it seem that every time we ran into him you got injured worse than I did? He seemed to be interested in your name too, didn't he?" 

Aamira ran in front of him and stopped Quill. "What are you getting at? Are you saying he attacked us because of my name?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" Quill said. "He must have fallen in love with someone named Aamira, she broke his heart and he wanted revenge but could never find her. And they seemed pretty interested in Lucario too, so she might have been a Lucario." 

Aamira rolled her eyes and continued walking. "Yea, I doubt that Weavile would have had a romantic story like that. Either way, what are the odds that there would be a Lucario named Aamira and I would just happen to be a Riolu named Aamira?" 

"Well maybe she spelled it differently or something. I don't know." 

"Nah you're just crazy." Aamira said. 

"Here it is." Crystal led everyone through a cave. They were inside the peak of the mountain. The temple was on top of what looked like a smaller mountain inside the mountain's peak. It seemed like the temple was glowing. "Well that's unusual. They must have figured something out." 

All of them ran as fast as they could without slipping on the icy stairs of the temple. Inside they found Team Overgrow staring at a blue gem that was shining on a pedestal in the middle of the room.

Quill and Aamira looked around. There were a bunch of columns surrounding the glowing gem on the pedestal. At the far end were three ice sculptures of bird pokemon. Above them was an ice sculpture of a giant dragon with its wings folded forward. Suddenly the light from the gem faded and they were cast almost into full darkness. Venusaur and Sceptile sighed and turned around.

"Oi! There you are!" Venusaur said when he noticed them. "Have any trouble getting here?" 

"No, actually it was pretty easy seeing as how the great snow spirit was guiding me here." Aamira said sarcastically. 

Crystal's fur froze solid and spiked up. "Don't ever mock the snow spirit! She still watches over us!" 

"You should listen to her, Aamira." Venusaur said. "That's her." He turned and pointed at the bird sculpture in the center. 

Aamira's jaw fell. She hadn't paid much attention to the sculptures before. 

"What is it?" Quill asked. 

"The snow spirit is an actual pokemon? This whole time I was thinking of it as a ghost or something. I thought it was like a god or something that people around here just worshiped without any real reason." 

"Worship?" Crystal's fur fell flat again. "We don't do that. We're grateful to the snow spirit and nothing else." 

"But the snow spirit is real! It's a legendary pokemon!" Aamira said. "Its name is Articuno. It's one of the legendary bird pokemon trio. There's Articuno, in the middle, Zapdos on the right, and Moltres on the left." 

"What's that one?" Quill pointed to the dragon pokemon above the legendary birds. 

"That's the guardian of the sea." Aamira said. "Its name is Lugia. It's said to be one of the strongest of all the legendary pokemon. The three bird pokemon are sort of like his underlings. Together they keep the world in balance. If anything happened to them, I think that the world is supposed to be ravaged by horrible natural disasters until eventually it's completely destroyed. So Lugia keeps the three bird pokemon in check and keeps the world in order." 

"That's strange…" Sceptile said. 

"I don't think it has anything to do with why the earth's energy is out of order. They keep nature in check. Right now there's something wrong with the planet itself." Quill said. 

"Oi! Only the second time we've seen you two and you can already understand Sceptile when he only says two words." Venusaur laughed. 

"So what have you been trying to do?" Aamira asked. 

"The Icy-Gem is the key." Sceptile said. "Apparently." 

"You see, this isn't the only temple like this out there." Venusaur said. "The gems aren't in their own temples though. We think they were mixed up so no one can get the real treasure. The Icy-Gem comes from Tempestas, the lightning country. They're only letting us borrow it and we don't want to make any enemies after Noctowl's meeting with the rest of the world leaders."

"So that's why you need our help." Aamira said. "You're in a bit of a hurry, aren't you? I remember something about bringing together three treasures. That's all I can remember though."

"We know that. Let's hurry." Sceptile said.

"Hey, I have an idea." Quill said. "Aamira, maybe if you touch the gem you'll learn something about it from your ability. It happened with Latias. If this is linked with a legendary pokemon, maybe it would work like before."

"An ability?" Sceptile looked at the gem. "It's possible."

"I guess I could try. But you know the last time we both passed out." Aamira pointed out.

"Does it really matter?" Quill asked. "Come on. Just try it."

Aamira breathed deeply for a second. "Alright…" She reached out her hand and hesitantly touched the Icy-Gem. 'Guardian of the Ice— My ice covered wings beating rhythmi—These pokemon, why do they all trust me? Have I finally found— Spread your wings, young Ri— Seal the ice with your aura— They're all disappearing! My brother! My sister! Master, help me! I'm next! I'm… I'm…" Everything went dark.

"Aamira! Quill!" the two of them woke up and saw Sceptile standing over them. "What happened?" 

Aamira sat up. "Let me guess. In my sleep I was muttering something about being the last one and now my eyes are an icy blue color." 

"This really has happened before, hasn't it?" Venusaur helped the two of them up. 

"And I repeated it so many times you know it by heart now?" Aamira asked. 

"They're all disappearing! There aren't many left! I can't go too! The Icy-Gem has to stay here! They'll take it for sure! I'm next! I have to be! I can feel it!" Venusaur and Sceptile said at the same time. 

"Spread your wings you Ri— Riolu?" Aamira shook her head "That can't be true…" 

"What are you talking about?" Quill said. 

"I'm trying to remember everything. "Guardian of the ice. My ice covered wings beating rhy— rhythmically? That sounds right. These pokemon, why do they all trust me? Have I finally found… found… found something, I don't know. Spread your wings, young Riolu. Seal the ice with your aura." 

"Wait, what was that?" Crystal said. 

"Seal the ice with aura." Aamira looked at the Icy-Gem. "Maybe I can undo it." Aamira put her hands on either side of the gem. No thoughts came this time, thankfully. She focused her energy as if she was making an Aura Sphere. The gem glowed. Aamira closed her eyes instinctively. She felt like she was floating. There was something blocking her way. She grabbed it and it snapped. Aamira's eyes opened and she flew back across the room. 

The Icy-Gem started glowing. The pillars and sculptures started glowing. The base the three sculptures were standing on started glowing. The base split in half and opened. A couple of metal rods extended on either side of the hole in the base a thread of ice connected them and ice in the shape of bells grew off of it. 

"Bells?" Quill walked up and looked at them. "That can't be the treasure, can it?" Quill rang one. It was the most beautiful and happy sound any of them had heard. Immediately after Quill rang it though, the temple started shaking. It fortunately stopped quickly. 

"Be careful!" Aamira said. "Don't do anything reckless." 

"This coming from you?" He said sarcastically. 

"I have an idea." Aamira walked up to the bells. She hummed the song they had heard earlier. "I somehow knew this song before I even heard Froslass play it on her flute." Aamira played the first verse of the song on the bells. 

"Aamira, look!" Quill said. 

Aamira turned around and saw the ice pillars surrounding the gem each flashing in accordance with the bells' positions and humming the same notes the bells chimed. After a while they faded. 

"Try that again." Crystal said. 

Aamira nodded and turned back to the bells. She played the whole song this time. She turned around to watch and listened to the pillars. At the end all of them glowed and hummed at the same time. The stone slab the pedestal was on slid back revealing a hidden staircase.


	17. Chapter 17 Aurora Borealis

"I don't believe this!" Venusaur said. "They just got here!" 

Sceptile smirked. "Aamira has an ability…" 

"I told you." Crystal said. "You were chosen by the ice spirit to come here." 

"I don't think so." Aamira walked over to the Icy-Gem and put her hand on it. "Whatever happened to Articuno… it was nothing good. Thieves tried to come before to steal the treasure. Articuno might have died defending it. Of course, whoever the thieves were must have been pretty disappointed. It was sealed by a Riolu. That Torterra had something to do with it. He told us to go the long way around so we could see the festival and hear that song. The thieves knew I might have been able to unseal the temple. After the festival they even tried to convince us with that aurora that led us here."

"The aurora…" Crystal said. "How do you think they faked that?" 

"Aurora Beam!" Quill said suddenly. "There's an attack called Aurora Beam. If someone knew how to get to the temple, they could have easily made that aurora." 

"It's all a lie…" Crystal said. "The ice spirit is gone and Aamira wasn't chosen…" 

"I wouldn't say that." Quill said. "Aamira somehow knew the song before we got to the festival. And on the way here I'm the only one the pokemon ever tried to attack." 

"They would even attack us if we came here without you both." Glaceon said. "Maybe something is going on here?" 

"Only one way to find out." Venusaur said. 

Glaceon nodded. "Let's get going. Come on, Eevee. Eevee?" 

Eevee was standing in front of the sculptures looking up at Articuno. "Dad, we've seen this pokemon."

Everyone jumped. 

"Articuno can't be gone. We saw it a while ago. Remember?" 

"Oh! That day we were in Crystal!" Glaceon talked louder than normal. "Yes, that time we were having a snowball fight. Some clouds rolled in suddenly and it started snowing." 

"That is one of Articuno's abilities." Aamira said. 

"It was so weird!" Eevee said. "I've never seen snow like it before. It was bright and sparkling. We just happened to look up into the sky and we saw a blue pokemon like this one with a long sparkly ribbon-like tail. It flew into the mountains and disappeared!" 

"We should be careful as we go then. Who knows what's down here?" Venusaur led the way down the stairs. 

Team Sleuth stayed back with Crystal as Eevee and Glaceon walked right behind Team Overgrow. 

"Will Eevee maybe end up being a better temple guardian than me?" Crystal asked. "He saw the snow spirit. Or did he really?" 

"Well did anyone know what an Articuno was?" Aamira asked. "Any pictures or anything like that?" 

"No, nothing like that at all." Crystal said. "We always assumed it was the greatest pokemon of all. No one really paid much attention to the sculptures." 

"Well the thing is, you can't learn a lot about a pokemon from looking at the sculptures. Eevee knew that it was blue and even described that memorable sparkly tail. I'm not sure if the snow would be different or not if Articuno made it, but he did get it right that Articuno could make it snow. I'm somewhat skeptical when it comes to people saying that they've seen a legendary pokemon, but this is different. Everything fits so perfectly and Eevee didn't even know what an Articuno was. I think it's possible that he might have seen it." 

"I see…" Crystal tilted her head. "So maybe my son is more worthy to be a temple guardian than me?" 

"I wouldn't say that. There isn't only destiny; there's luck too. Maybe Eevee got lucky. Or maybe he's supposed to do something great." 

"I wouldn't be disappointed about this if he wanted to be a temple guardian. He doesn't though. He wants to be an Investigation Team member." 

Aamira looked at her in surprise. 

Crystal sighed. "I was hoping you noticed how his eyes sparkle when he looks at you and Team Overgrow. I thought maybe he was lying about Articuno to get your attention, but of, course Glaceon saw it too." 

"Like I said, they were probably just lucky." 

Quill and Eevee stopped and looked around the corner. "Articuno!" Both of them ran off.

"Not again. Wait up!" Aamira ran after them and nearly ran into them when they stopped at the end of a corridor. 

Both of them were standing completely still staring at a wall. There was an elegant and ancient painting on the wall of Articuno. In front of Articuno was the glowing Ice-Gem, which was, for some reason, hollowed out. Behind was a black figure in the shape of Lugia. Down in the lower right corner, Aamira found a small picture of a Riolu looking up at Articuno. Around the edges were cryptic writings that Aamira couldn't understand. 

"Hey, look at this statue." Quill walked over to an ice sculpture that really just seemed like a block of ice with legs and arms. It also had some strange dots on it that they assumed were eyes.

"We've got trouble!" Venusaur ran in followed by everyone else. Everyone turned to the entrance. 

"'Bout time you figured this out for us!" A Pikachu walked in followed by a Plusle and Minun. "We thought you would never get it!" 

"Some ability you've got there though!" Minun said slyly to Aamira. 

"Wait, so Tempestas, the county of lightning and you never thought that pokemon from Tempestas might have been the thieves!" Aamira said. 

"It did occur to us…" Sceptile admitted. 

"Whatever. We'll just knock you out, figure out the final puzzle on our own, and get the last treasure all for ourselves!" Pikachu smirked. 

The dots on the ice sculpture started glowing yellow, and suddenly it moved. Everyone jumped back as the apparent ice sculpture stepped off the base. "I AM REGICE!" it said in its loud thundering voice. "I AM THE TRUE TEMPLE GUARDIAN AND DEFENDER OF THE SNOW SPIRIT. NO HEINOUS VILLANS SHALL GET PAST ME!"

"So what are you waiting for?" Pikachu said. "We were going to stop them ourselves, but if it's your job, then—." 

"SILNECE, TEMPESTANS! ENEMIES OF ARTICUNO! YOU CANNOT BE TRUSTED!" 

The ears on Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun's heads twitched and they stepped back further. 

Regice looked over at Aamira. "RIOLU, YOU HAVE FINALLY RETURNED! MASTER ARTICUNO WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU. NOW PERHAPSE HER WORRIES CAN BE FORGOTTEN AND SHE WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO SPEND ALL OF HER TIME DEFENDING THE FIERY-GEM." 

Aamira stepped forward. "Regice, I'm afraid it might be too late. Articuno vanished hundreds of years ago and the Riolu that lived then sealed the temple." 

"I SEE… WHEN THE TEMPLED IS SEALED, I'M FORCED INTO A DEEP SLEEP UNTIL IT FINALLY IS REOPENED. I'VE REALLY BEEN ASLEEP FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS?" 

"I'm afraid so. It was only now that we figured out how to unseal it. Someone stole the Fiery-Gem and we thought that maybe they had mistaken it for another treasure." Aamira explained. "So we came here to head off the thieves and they followed us." 

"THE TREASURE WILL BE WORTHLESS TO THIEVES! ALL THOSE WHO TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LEGEND THAT A TREASURE EXISTS IN THIS TEMPLE SHALL PAY MOST DEARLY!"

"No need to say anymore!" Pikachu turned to Plusle and Minun. "Alright, Team Spark! Let's move out to fight for another day!" All of them shouted and ran away.

"That was easier than usual." Quill turned to Regice. "So what exactly is the treasure? Or where is it?" 

"YOU'VE HELPED PROTECT THE TREASURE AND YOU'VE AWAKENED ME FROM MY SLUMBER. I WILL ALLOW YOU TO SEE THE TREASURE." Regice pointed to the painting. "IN YOUR LANGUAGE, THIS WRITING SAYS, 'HEART OF GOLD AND SOUL OF SILVER. THEY ALONE HAVE THE POWER TO RESTORE THE TREASURE. LIGHT WILL RETURN TO THE DESOLENT DARK. WITH POWER OF ICE THIS GATE SHALL FALL, AND YOU'LL SEE THE SPIRIT'S MARK." 

"Well since Aamira could unseal this part of the temple, maybe she could open the gate? Whatever that means." Crystal said. 

Aamira walked forward and put her hand to the hollow Icy-Gem on the Articuno painting. She made an Aura Sphere like she normally did, and the picture started to glow. After a minute it faded and nothing else happened. 

"Missing something." Sceptile said. 

Then Aamira remembered something from earlier. When she was trying to unseal the temple, she felt something and snapped it in half. That, she guessed, was the aura that sealed the temple. "The power of ice. Does that mean ice aura?" 

Regice nodded. 

"Well were could we get that?" Aamira wondered if maybe this was the reason her eyes changed color whenever she touched a gem or legendary pokemon. She also, she now realized, heard their thoughts. Maybe this meant that she already had ice aura. 

Aamira raised her hand up to the hollow Icy-Gem again and closed her eyes. She felt the ice aura, though she wasn't quite sure how. The aura sensors of either side of her head rose up and she was able to put the ice aura into her Aura Sphere. She opened her eyes to see a blue Aura Sphere shining the way the Icy-Gem would. The whole picture started to glow so brightly that it hurt everyone's eyes. The glowing finally faded after a while. 

Everyone looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed. Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake and everyone except for Regice fell to the ground. When the shaking had stopped everyone stood up and looked around. Still it seemed as if nothing had changed. 

"Outside." Sceptile led the way and everyone followed him up to the temple's main floor. 

"Over there!" Eevee pointed to the ice sculptures. The Articuno and Lugia sculptures had risen off the ground. A flight of stairs that was concealed behind them had been revealed. The bells had gone back into the statue base and were replaced by a block of ice. The base and the block of ice now made up the first two stairs. 

"How many floors are in this temple?" Crystal said in amazement. 

"Come now." Regice led the way up the stairs. "The second door should also be opened." 

They climbed up a long winding staircase until they finally climbed "outside". 

"LOOK NOW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE." 

"Hey, we're outside the temple, but we're still inside the mountain peak." Quill looked at the wall behind him and then looked down. "Oh! We're on the other side of the ice temple's mountain. We couldn't see it from the other side because the peak of the temple's mountain was hiding this hollowed out spot on the other side." 

"THAT'S RIGHT. NOW LOOK AT THIS ICE BRIDGE." Regice pointed t a bridge leading to the side of the mountain, where it looked like there was a way out. "THIS BRIDGE WAS MADE BY ARTICUNO HERSELF SO THAT RIOLU COULD CROSS ALONG WITH ME AND THE TEMPLE GUARDIAN. IT SHOULDN'T EVER BREAK, BUT IT'S BEEN HUNDREDS OF YEARS. BE CAREFUL AS YOU'RE CROSSING IT." 

Everyone followed Regice across the narrow bridge and headed outside onto a staircase landing. There was a last staircase that led up to the top of the mountain. 

Quill looked down over the landing and gulped. "We're almost at the top of the mountain. I doubt anyone could survive a fall from here." 

"IT'S TRUE THAT IF SOMEONE EVER FELL OFF ARTICUNO WOULD CATCH THEM EASILY. SOMETIMES SHE WOULD EVEN BLOW THEM OFF THE MOUNTAIN AND CATCH THEM JUST FOR A LAUGH." 

Quill gulped and walked slowly up the stairs to the peak of the mountain. When at last everyone was on top, they saw that while the peak looked pointy from the ground and even from Crystal, it was actually flat. In the middle was a set of ice bells like the one inside the temple, only a lot bigger. 

"Are these bells the treasure?" Aamira asked, slightly confused. 

"SORT OF." Regice answered. "THE TRUE TREASURE CAN ONLY BE REVEALED FROM THESE BELLS BY ARTICUNO OR ONE OF YOUR KIND." 

"One of me?" Aamira walked under the bells. They were really big. There was a ribbon tied onto all of them that she could use to ring the bells. "Alright, here it goes." 

Aamira started playing the song that she had played earlier and that they had heard Froslass playing on her flute. 

Back in town, people were living their lives as they usually would in the winter. 

Lapras was in a pond talking with Froslass. "Aah, the deep night sky that seems to go on forever. Is there anything like it, Froslass?" 

Froslass clutched her ice flute. "It almost makes me want to play the song again." 

Both of them looked towards the mountains. A deep enchanting song played on bells was echoing, they guessed, all through Glacies. More pokemon started coming into town square near Lapras's lake. 

The music had started out slowly and softly, but was now quickening and growing louder as whoever it was that was ringing the bells rang them more vigorously playing the Snow Melody over and over again. Froslass turned to the crowd and started playing her flute to the bells. Everyone looked at Froslass and to the mountains in amazement. Then suddenly from the tallest mountain, a soft beam of light shot into the air and a giant aurora that covered nearly the entire sky and waved in the air like a colorful ocean of yellow and green light. The stars and the moon were still visible through the aurora, which only made it more beautiful. 

Up on the mountain, Aamira continued to ring the bells and watch the aurora swirl above them. In the distance they heard the soft sound of the flute and the cheering of a crowd back in town.

"Aamira, this is too magical!" Quill said. "It's shining on all of the ice. It looks like a second Crystal Festival in color!"

"YOU CAN STOP PLAYING NOW." Regice said. "THE BELLS WILL CONTINUE ON THEIR OWN. THE MYSTIC NIGHT WILL KEEP THEM GOING UNTIL THE AURORA FINALLY FADES."

Aamira stopped ringing the bells at the end of the verse and sat next to Quill and everyone else. The aurora shining off of the ice really was like the festival in color. 

"There did used to be a second part of the festival." Crystal said. "They said the usually colorless ice and snow were transformed into a sea of color. I guess this was it." 

Aamira started shivering suddenly. 

"Oh, you stopped shivering after you touched that gem, didn't you? We were so caught up in everything that we hadn't even noticed. Your eyes are back to normal, so I guess that was it." Quill said. 

Aamira nodded. "I like being cold. It's kind of a happy feeling when looking over all of this. It just feels right for some reason." She was shivering really badly now, but it felt good to her. "I almost don't want to leave, but I know we have to. This can't last forever after all." 

They headed back to town after a while. Regice went back to pretending he was an ice sculpture in case anyone else tried getting in. They stayed in town for a while and watched the aurora until it died down. After that, completely messed up from the lack of daylight, they weren't even tired so they headed home.

A few days later back at Team Sleuth HQ, Aamira yawned as she walked into the main room of the Treehouse and threw her bag on the floor. "I'm wiped out. Five missions in one day…" 

"I feel the same way." Quill walked over to the couch and laid on his stomach. 

Aamira picked up the newspaper on the table. "I didn't even read the paper this morning because we left in such a hurry." She opened directly to the back and was astounded to see a picture of some bells on top of a mountain with an aurora shining in the sky behind it. She started to read the article. 

A few weeks ago, Team Overgrow headed back to Glacies to figure out why someone would want to steal the temple's Fiery-Gem. While they didn't know why someone would take it, they had a suspicion that there was more to this temple than meets the eye. Though they tried to unravel the secret of the temple alone, after an unfortunate injury, they realized that, for the first time in a long time, they couldn't do this alone. 

After getting the message, Team Sleuth, who also became one of the few to escape the Collectors without losing their Aura Glasses in that same day, headed out for the first time to another country. They arrived just in time to witness the annual Crystal Festival, which marks the beginning of winter for everyone in the north. A good thing too: the song played at the festival turned out to be the key to the mystery. 

One of Team Sleuth's members, a Riolu, is apparently very gifted as far as her species goes. Apparently she has an ability that let her unlock a set of bells using, the Icy-Gem borrowed from Tempestas, that when the festival song is played on them, opened up the lower levels of the temple. Deeper in they ran into the legendary pokemon, Regice. They were confronted by thieves from Tempestas, but they were quickly chased off by Regice. After that, Regice told the Riolu member how to unlock the upper part of the temple. From there they could head out to the mountain's peak, which happened to be flat and have a large set of bells on it.

They played the same song as before and after a while the sky erupted into color from the northern lights, A.K.A. aurora borealis. 

"I heard the bells!" A Snorunt all the way in Ice, Glacies's most southern city, said. "After that an aurora appeared in the north. It was so cool!" 

So what happened to the Icy-Gem? It was returned to Tempestas by Sceptile. 

"I don't like to repeat myself, so listen!" He said. "They might have stolen something from Glacies, and our own gem was stolen also, but does that give us the right to steal something of theirs? I think not. If they did steal the Fiery-Gem, I hope this will teach the war-obsessed citizens of Tempestas that unity is most important in these trying times." 

"Of course I was excited to go on a mission with the famous Team Overgrow!" Quill of Team Sleuth said. "We had done deliveries with them before on messenger duty, but this was our first real mission together. I can't believe that we're the ones that solved it! Well, Aamira mostly. I wasn't even allowed to use my fire type attacks while I was there."

"I was freezing the whole time!" Aamira, the Riolu member, said right after Quill had finished talking. "Quill's a fire type, so I can understand it not bothering him. Team Overgrow didn't even seem phased by it, though! Which reminds me, Sceptile said he was going to be my teacher. I guess I'll remind him later. I'm still not sure I deserve any credit for figuring this out. It's only because I'm a Riolu that I was even able to do anything. It was pure luck, if you ask me." 

Overly modest? Perhaps you might think that, but as a reporter I have to say I'm used to hearing someone pretending to be modest and it just wasn't in Aamira's voice. So everyone came back with limb and leaf attached, and Team Sleuth got a nice reward: advancement to the Gold Rank! 

Aamira put down the paper and picked up her golden Aura Glass. It really didn't seem fair. She could have turned into any other pokemon and not have been able to figure this out. 

'That reminds me…' She thought. 'On the way there I was humming the song without even hearing it before. That was a bit strange, I guess. And come to think of it, why would Torterra have helped that group of thieves anyway? We didn't know them, so any of them could have put on a cute face and just told us themselves. And the aurora… We assumed that it was caused by a pokemon using Aurora Beam, but getting back to that it doesn't make much sense. So if those three didn't lead us there, then who? And why?' 

"Delivery! Delivery!" The special service's Delibird landed on the perch just inside the window. 

"What's up?" Quill got up and ran over. 

"Message from Noctowl the town elder. Meet outside Town Hall without your other team members. That is all." He flew off without any further explanation. 

"Well that was brief." Quill said. "Let's get going." 

Out by town hall, Team Sky and Team Overgrow were both talking but Noctowl was nowhere to be seen. 

"Any of you know what's going on?" Quill asked. 

"Oi! Had a feeling you two would be chosen for this!" Venusaur said happily. 

"They obviously know, but they won't tell us." Mankey said. 

The door opened and Noctowl came out. He handed a new map piece to both Team Sleuth and Team Sky. "Now let me explain why you're all here." He said. "Team Sleuth, Team Sky, and Team Overgrow are our top three Investigation Teams. It is as such that all three teams have been chosen for a special honor. All three of you shall be heading to Divum for a tournament that happens every year. The Investigator Trilogy, which is called so because each country is sending three Investigation Teams to represent them." 

"Wow, who would have thought it would have been something like that?" Aamira said. 

"I thought for sure he was sending us on another mission right after we just got back…" Aipom said, tiredly. 

"Of course, entering the tournament will not only bring respect to Silva, but also to your teams. There are some amazing prizes involved if you do win. Pokemon will be there from all over! It is truly not something to miss." 

"I can't believe something like this is happening!" Quill said. 

"I'll give you those fighting lessons on the way there…" Sceptile said to Aamira. 

Aamira blushed, realizing that interviewer had written down everything she had said and put it all in the newspaper. Evident by the reporter's writing style, she was obviously a rookie and didn't know exactly how to shorten the quotes to make them fit well with the story the way other reporters could. She wondered if Sceptile saw her as a show off because of the article, even if it was an accident. 

"All of you should head out tonight." Noctowl said. "It's a long journey to Divum. Get prepared and follow Team Overgrow there.

A few minutes later, Noctowl watched them leave from a window at the top floor of town hall. 

Espeon burst through the door, obviously furious. "Why did you send them to a tournament like this? Some of those pokemon are brutal! They could easily go up against someone they're no match for and…" 

"I know…" Noctowl crossed the room to his desk. 

"Then why did you do it? Just to prove some obscure point or something?" 

Noctowl put his wing on a book that had been sitting on his desk. "No, that's not it. It's because of Aamira. The human that was turned into a Riolu. There's something that I've been curious about for some time now." 

"And what's that? What is it that's so important that you would risk sending all of them to Divum for that tournament!" 

Noctowl sighed. "Come with me and I'll tell you." Noctowl led the way outside of town hall. 

Back in the room they had just been in, a shadow emerged from behind a book case and flew over to the desk. It picked up the book and looked at the cover. On it was a picture that looked like the crescent moon in front of the sun. The Shadow smirked. "So that's what the old bird thinks? What a surprise."


	18. Chapter 18 Reunions and Revealed Secrets

"Higher! Can't you jump any higher?" Sceptile shouted at Aamira who was jumping up the cliffs in front of them.

Aamira did so. She started jumping as high as she could. "I could do this all day!" 

"Don't be so full of yourself!" Aamira stepped on a rock that crumbled under her foot and she fell. Sceptile ran and caught her. "I warned you. Stay vigilant and if that does happen again I'm not catching you. You'll have to land on your own." 

With a more serious look than before, Aamira started jumping up the side of the cliff. Sceptile followed. 

Far below them, Aipom, Mankey, Quill, and Venusaur all followed slowly. 

"How can they do it…?" Aipom said groggily. 

"This is the type of terrain that Riolu usually grow up in." Venusaur explained. "Of course, we've gone this way so many times that Sceptile is used to jumping up all these cliffs. I, of course, am not so good at jumping." 

"My feet hurt." Mankey said. "We would have no problem jumping all this way if it's on tree branches and not hard rocks." 

"He Sceptile!" Quill shouted up at him. "Do you mind if we take a break for a while?" 

"Alright." Sceptile looked back and jumped down to meet everyone else. Aamira followed. 

Aamira smirked. "You were getting tired, weren't you?" 

"You know how bad Venusaur is with directions?" Sceptile said. "Whenever we come here, he forgets how to get where we're going. If we left them behind they would all get lost." 

"Okay, I guess my memory is pretty bad…." Venusaur said. 

"Besides, we're not going to stop yet." Sceptile took out his staff. "Or are you getting tired?" 

Aamira took out her staff also. "Not even close!" 

They sparred for a few seconds before Sceptile swiped her feet and knocked her down. Sceptile looked at her in amazement and looked over at the other three. "Do any of you even know how to use these?" 

Aipom, Mankey, and Quill looked around nervously. 

Sceptile sighed. "You were supposed to learn this a long time ago." He looked up at the sky. "I guess we could set up camp here and I could teach you all how to really use these."

After dinner Sceptile took turns teaching the four of them how to use the staffs. He even demonstrated how they could be used at grappling hooks! The whole time the vine around the Aura Staff was actually only attached to the hook, so when unraveled and the aura staff was thrown and the spear end dug into something, it acted just like a grappling hook.

"I remember a few years ago a stone bridge gave out after Sceptile had crossed. We both threw our Aura Staffs like grappling hooks and made a vine bridge that was strong enough for me to cross." Venusaur said. 

"You were able to cross on only two vines?" Quill looked at his Aura Staff. "I had no idea these were so strong…." 

Aamira's aura sensors on the sides of her head twitched and she instinctively turned and fired an Aura Sphere towards some nearby bushes. A larger Aura Sphere came from the bushes, went straight through Aamira's and hit her in the face. 

"Lucario…" Sceptile said quietly. 

A pokemon that looked a little like Aamira came out of the bushes with a smug grin on his face. "Strange, isn't it? A Lucario and a Riolu can always tell when another one of their kind is near and even sense what their intentions are. You've got far to go, little Riolu." 

"That's a Lucario?" Aamira said. "In that case I'm never evolving…" 

Quill, Aipom, and Mankey snickered at the comment. 

"Say what you want, you'll never win the tournament for Sylva with petty strength like that. Pathetic if you ask me. You'll never amount to anything." Lucario smirked and walked by.

"Weren't you going to mug us?" Aamira asked. 

Lucario's ears twitched and he turned to her. "What's this? Lucario and Riolu can easily tell whether their intentions are good or not, but to know exactly what they were planning on doing?" He laughed. "You're like the Team Overgrow weaklings. Brain over brawn just because you have no brawn."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Lucario, but doesn't our team beat yours ever year?" Venusaur said. 

Lucario raised an eyebrow. "Really think you can keep it up? Wait until you meet my students. They're star performers, unlike that thing." He pointed at Aamira. 

Aamira growled and ran at him. She jumped to kick him and Lucario spun around, hit her with his tail, and knocked her to the ground. 

"Just with my tail. Impressive, no? Well to me, no, but to you, probably. You'll never amount to anything, especially with a temper like that." 

"Yea, really impressive." Aamira said. "You hit me with your tail and use it to steal the money from inside my Collection Bag." 

Lucario's eyes widened. "No one's ever been able to see me do that before!" Lucario pulled out the money bag that Aamira kept all their money in and threw it back to her. "Smarts will never win over strength, just remember that. The only good way to do anything is repeated offensive attacks. If you can't figure that out, you'll never amount to anything." Lucario ran away as if he had just been passing through. 

"Strength over smarts." Sceptile crossed his arms. "He'll never change. And still up to his thieving ways, I see." 

"Why is it that every other person we meet from another country tries to kill and or rob us?" Quill asked.

"I never noticed that until now!" Aamira said with an awkward smile. "The only exception was in Glacies, but there a team from Tempestas tried to rob us." She got up. "Oh well, back to work." 

"You really are a strange one." Sceptile said.

They practiced for a few more hours before heading to bed. They got up early and headed out. Around noon they finally got to the top of the mountain they had stopped on and behind the mountain was an even larger mountain range. Not far away was a giant plateau that was actually taller than some of the mountains. It was surrounded by slightly taller mountains on every side except the side they were facing. 

"Is that it?" Quill asked. 

"Aye, it is." Venusaur said. "We should get there before noon." 

"It's a lot closer than I thought it would be," Aipom said, "but maybe just because we barely stopped at all yesterday and we got here sooner." 

Like Venusaur said, they ended up arriving before noon. They registered for the tournament and headed to the nearest town. According to Team Overgrow, Divum had four cities. The capital was called Mistral, which was to the north. The other cities were Gale to the east, Chinook to the south, and Wing to the west. In between the four cities was a big coliseum that they figured must have been for the tournament. 

There was so much to see. They had elaborate systems of glass tunnels that wind was constantly blowing through from the north. The flying type pokemon could use these as shortcuts to the other towns. They also used the same system to deliver mail and other packages. The most amazing thing though, was that wind was blowing up from under the city Mistral. The whole city was seemingly floating in the air! 

Mankey's eyes were sparkling. "I could never have imagined a city like this!" 

"This place puts our team name to shame!" Aipom said. 

"Here's one of the best parts." Sceptile walked over to a large circular stone slab on the edge of the hole that Mistral was floating over. Many more pokemon were already standing on it. "At certain times a day, a strong wind current pushes this rock up to Mistral. That way even pokemon that can't fly are able to get up there. It was originally added in case of broken wings or other injuries that impaired flight." 

Aamira looked at a few of the flying pokemon on there that didn't seem to be hurt. 

Venusaur laughed. "Of course, some of them ride it just for fun!" 

They all stepped on the stone elevator and after a few minutes it started moving. The wind got stronger and pushed them up faster. It hovered for a second level to the ground that Mistral was built on and everyone stepped off. After a while the rock fell back down and there was a banging sound from below.

"The first thing we should do is introduce you to the town elder, who is also the leader of Divum. She lives in that giant tree down there at the edge of town." Venusaur pointed at it with one of his vines.

"Is that a tree made out of stone?" Quill asked. 

"It is now. Thousands of years ago, that tree somehow became trapped under the mountain. It became fossilized and was dug up a few hundred years ago by the first pokemon to come to Divum. A strong gust of cold, dry air came from the north and the pokemon thought this would be a good place to make their new homes."

They all walked across town towards the stone tree. Outside they found a Typhlosion standing there trying to ignore a group of fans that were pestering him for autographs. One of them happened to turn and noticed the six of them standing there. "Hey! It's the three teams from Sylva!"

The crowd of pokemon rushed over to them. Most of them just wanted to ask for autographs, but the others were all making comments about the teams. 

"I don't see what the big deal is. Most of them look pretty wimpy to me." 

"Are you crazy? Aipom and Mankey from Team Sky once rescued the famous explorer Electabuzz on their first visit to Tempestas. It wasn't even a part of their mission but they got a huge reward." 

"Hey, did you hear about what Team Sleuth did a few days ago? They solved the greatest mystery that Glacies ever had! And they did it on request from Team Overgrow!" 

"Ouch. That must have hurt for Team Overgrow. They probably called them without even thinking they could do it!" 

"Team Overgrow's the coolest though! They've solved more mysteries than we could count! They even went into an underwater dungeon in Aequor and came out with an amazing treasure!"

"Woa! Sceptile! Sceptile! You look so cool in person!" 

"How can anything as cute looking as Aipom and Mankey be so strong?" 

"Venusaur looks like he could knock out a legendary with one hit!" 

"Aamira looks even stronger in person than in the pictures! How many Lucario teachers do you think she's gone through?" 

"Quill, will you marry me?" 

"Huh?" Quill jumped and his face started turning red. Aipom and Mankey started laughing so hard that they fell over. 

Typhlosion looked over at them. "That's enough!" He walked over with an angry look on his face. "First you pester me all day asking for autographs and just like that you leave to pester some other teams? What happened to being my devoted fans? Or was that all just a lie to get my autograph? You all do this every year! Now I'm warning you, if you don't stop badgering teams for their autographs, I'll show you why I'm so famous!" The fire around his neck flared up and all the pokemon screamed and ran off. 

Quill's face was still red. "Thanks for that…" He finally came back to his senses and looked up at Typhlosion. "Wait! Aren't you Typhlosion from Team Blazer?" 

"Yea, you don't want my autograph too, do you?" 

"Oh, no but I've never seen another Cyndaquil so it's pretty cool meeting a Typhlosion. Especially one that's in the hall of fame!" 

"Your partner is Monferno, isn't it?" Aipom asked. 

"You mean Infernape?" Typhlosion asked. "Yea, she finally evolved. Took her time on it too." 

"Infernape…" Aipom seemed to go into a trance. "Where could I find her?" 

"She's probably still down at the coliseum signing autographs. Unlike me, she enjoys it. She has such a big head." 

"You look a lot nicer than in the picture." Aamira said. "Infernape looked a lot like how you just described her, but you look a lot nicer." 

"Yea, I was getting a little impatient with Smeargle. He was taking his time trying to make our flames look so realistic that people would think if they touched them on the painting they might get burned. Truthfully Infernape is the only one on our team with a hot head, but that painting still gets me steaming mad." 

"Why's that?" Aamira asked. 

"Apparently the people in Sylva don't like our leader much. So now everyone thinks I'm the leader. Now not only do I get badgered by more people than either of my teammates, but he hardly gets any of the credit he deserves!" Typhlosion looked behind him. "Oh, speaking of which, here he comes now." 

A pokemon was walking down the stairs that led up the stone tree. Quill jumped when he recognized who it was. "Ch-Charmeleon!" 

Charmeleon apparently had heard him. He did his usual sneering laugh and ran down the steps. "Well I must admit I never imagined you two being here. Of course Team Overgrow comes here every year." He looked over at Team Sky. "You're… Team Sky, right? Weird name."

"There's no way you could be the leader of Team Blazer!" Quill snapped at him. He felt Aamira's nervousness though he figured that she was scared of Charmeleon being in the tournament. 

"You still don't trust me?" He asked. "Why not?" 

"You kidnapped Oddish and Team Slacker and tried to kidnap us! And you stole the Grace-Seed!" He snapped at him. 

Sceptile glared at him. "I see your doing well. You even managed to get your flame back somehow." 

Charmeleon looked at them surprised. 

"I… I didn't tell them." Aamira said. 

Everyone turned to Aamira. 

Charmeleon laughed. "After all of this, they don't even know about what happened? How did you manage to pull that off? And here I thought I was the sneaky one." 

"Pull what off?" Quill said angrily. 

"Well, you know that day I went off for some 'solo training'? Well it ended up not being as solo as I thought it would be." Aamira said. "Charmeleon showed up and he was really different from before. I couldn't imagine what it was like for him to lose his flame, so we helped each other. He helped me learn Aura Sphere and I helped him get his flame back." 

Sceptile growled and started walking away. "I knew it. You could never be trusted…." 

"I should probably calm him down." Venusaur followed. 

"Aamira, why didn't you say anything about this before?" Quill asked. 

"Charmeleon is an outlaw in Sylva. If anyone knew we were practicing together I could have gotten in trouble too." She said. "Even before the Collectors showed, up I tried to understand Charmeleon's point of view without even realizing it. He was suffering really badly. I especially realized it when he gave the Grace-Seed back." 

"So that's why you're always changing the subject when I ask you about that." Quill said. 

Aamira nodded. "We weren't getting anywhere but then these other pokemon showed up and mugged us for the Grace-Seed. In our battle, Charmeleon learned Return and also got his flame back and I figured out how to make Aura Sphere work. We admittedly became friends through that, even though Milotic got away with the Grace-Seed." 

Typhlosion glared at Charmeleon. "You were going to give it back? You said that Milotic had stolen it from you, but what's the big deal if you were going to give it back anyway?"

"You just don't understand who I am. This Investigation stuff is all a kid's game! You'll never understand and maybe this even sounds like I'm stuck up to you, but I'm more than that!" Charmeleon walked off angrily. 

"He's been different alright, ever since his flame went out." Typhlosion asked. "But you two really are the ones who put his flame out. I guess I should thank you, which is weird. Infernape just kept trying to corrupt him more than he already was. I was so shocked that day we pulled him out of the river and he shrugged her off like that. He's been furious with her ever since." 

"So in a way, we ended up saving him?" Quill asked. "So he really is a good person?" 

"And anyway, it's not like I didn't tell anyone. I knew you didn't like him so I didn't tell you, but that one day with Latias, after you had left, Dragonite said that he didn't believe Charmeleon when he said he had been mugged for the Grace-Seed. I told him and he had a wanted poster made for Milotic and her team." 

"Well that's good at least." Quill looked at her sadly. "But we're friends. You can trust me and tell me anything. If you don't want anyone else to know something, I won't tell anyone." 

Aamira actually felt tears coming to her eyes. She felt so stupid for not trusting Quill sooner. 

Aipom had finally come out of her trance. "Typhlosion, you said Infernape was down at the coliseum, didn't you?"

"That's right." He said. "If you're going there, you won't be able to get back up until dusk though."

"Thanks for telling me." Aipom walked off and Mankey, looking a bit confused and even scared, followed her.

"Weird day…" Typhlosion said. "Well I guess if you want I can introduce you to Divum's leader. I've got nothing better to do and I think the old man's still talking to him." 

They both wondered who the 'old man' was, but they didn't ask any questions. They followed him into the stone tree. In the back was a pool of light. There were smaller trees on either side that were glowing in the light. A pokemon was standing in front of the light. It was blue and looked like the sky. There were three Swablu that were perched in the trees. 

"Hello, there!" She said when she saw them come in. "Team Sleuth, right? I was wondering if you would come to visit. I'm Altaria, that elder of Divum." 

"You're an elder?" Quill said. "But you look so young. And beautiful!" 

She laughed. It was high pitched and went perfectly with the way her face looked. 

"So you're the infamous Team Sleuth. Yes, I've heard a bit about you from my son." The other pokemon that Altaria had been talking to said. "I'm Charizard, the elder of Ignis." 

Aamira looked at him shocked for a moment. "You're Ignis's elder and Charmeleon's dad? But doesn't that make him like a prince or something?" 

"Yes, I suppose it does!" He said. "Did he fail to mention that? I know you became quite a good friend of his a while ago, Aamira."

"And I'm just finding that out today." Quill said sourly. 

"And you're Quill. He said you hated him for no really good reason. He said he was hoping Aamira could change that. She seemed to understand, though it was probably only because of that mind control trick." 

"That's one reason!" Quill said. "He tried putting Aamira under some sort of mind control!" 

"That's my fault, actually…" He said. "I told Charmeleon how to do it. He gave me all the details when he came back. He said he even mentioned to you that countries might try to use you for experimental purposes." 

Aamira's eyes widened and she slapped her forehead. "I am so stupid." She straightened up. "Wait, it was just an experiment, right? But why?" 

"Well, I can't really explain that. It doesn't matter now anyway because we don't have the Grace-Seed. I thought for sure that if we could use it to control a certain pokemon that we could fix all these problems." 

"We've even been noticing problems up here in the mountains." Altaria said. "The winds are strong but they used to be stronger. They're dying down and everyone here can feel it." 

"So you're helping to try to find a solution, right?" Quill asked. 

"I'm afraid to." Altaria answered. "What has it caused so far? Nothing but fights and dispute. As the old saying goes, what we don't know won't hurt us." 

"It won't stay that way forever." Charizard pointed out. "We will need your help eventually. We'll all need to help eventually. I'd love to see the day that Tempestas, Ignis, and Glacies actually fight together instead of against each other. But you don't even want to know about the pokemon that protects this country. Are you that afraid to act?" 

"I'm not afraid to admit it. For all we know, things might be made worse." Altaria said calmly. "And they have become worse, you know? Before pokemon could only evolve under special conditions, which was a limit to how it used to be anyway, but lately no pokemon have been evolving. I'm afraid that things may be getting worse by the day."


	19. Chapter 19 A Possible Answer

The Special Services Delibird flew in and landed in front of Charizard. "Important message for Charizard!"

"I must go." Charizard turned and left along with Delibird.

"That Delibird sure gets around a lot." Quill said.

"I should go too. I have a bad feeling that something Infernape related is about to happen." Typhlosion turned to leave. "You'll explain the tournament to them, right?"

"Of course!" Altaria watched him leave and turned to Quill and Aamira. "Okay, pay close attention. The rules of the tournament are simple. Three teams from each country come to battle. The winning team is the champion team. There are three titles awarded to the best teams, which is another reason it's called The Investigator Trilogy, but you find out what they are at the end of the tournament as they're being awarded. In a way the prizes themselves are mysteries!"

"That's pretty cool." Aamira said.

"There are three main events in the tournament. The first one is the Investigation Triathlon. You took an entrance exam to become an Investigation Team, right?"

"Right." Quill said. "So it's like that?"

"Exactly. The second part is Team vs. Team. Investigation teams battle against other investigation teams with the same amount of teammates. The third one is the most exciting and everyone's favorite. Solo Battle. The teams are divided up. For the first half they'll be randomly partnered up with two other teammates, the second part they'll be partnered up with one other, and the last part they'll be completely on their own. Whoever wins the last one is considered the Champion although the overall score from the amount of battles won by the team members is what we use to figure out the winning team."

"This is starting to sound more complicated." Aamira said.

"Well, that's why I said to pay attention. You'll get it as you go on through the tournament. I should explain something else. There are extra tournaments you can enter for Best Performance. You can enter one tournament for an attack and one species tournament.

"In the Attack Tournament, any pokemon with a specific attack will compete to figure out who's attack is better. It isn't like a battle though. Say a pokemon knows the move Quick Attack. They'll enter a tournament for Quick Attack. The Quick Attack tournament is like a race. The pokemon competing get points for how far they go without the attack fading out and how fast they go. The one with the most points wins. Get it?"

"I think so." Quill said.

"I get it." Aamira said. "What about the Species Tournament?"

"The species Tournament is another favorite. How should I explain it? If, Aamira, you were to enter, you would compete against some other Riolu and some Lucario. And if you, Quill, entered you would go up against other Cyndaquil, some Quillava and some Typhlosion. Get it now? Again, these aren't battles. You compete against others in athletic events are even get judged on appearance."

"Why on appearance?" Quill asked.

"Your appearance can say a lot about you. How brave you are, how healthy you are, and even how well you balance. That's one of the things they judge Riolu on. The longer a Riolu's tail, the better at balancing they are. The shinier a pokemon's fur, feathers, scales, etcetera are, the healthier they are. The straighter you stand the braver and more impressive you look, but that's the hard part. It needs to look natural or you'll just make a fool out of yourself. I don't think Cyndaquil are judged in this though. They mainly stand hunched over or on all four plus they scare easily so Cyndaquil aren't really a good pokemon to have in a bravery contest."

"You would win if there was." Aamira said to Quill.

"One more thing. Every team member is allowed to enter and the winning member earns some extra points. Except in the Species Tournament the losing team members lose points, but not many. The smart thing to do with the Attack Tournament would be to enter in different tournaments since there could only be one winner. If two people of the same team enter and both lose, they lose double the points, and if one member wins, it won't have made any difference because the other team member lost and those points will also be lost. Points aren't deducted in species tournaments because a lot of teams have multiple team members of the same species. But like the other tournament, the winning member earns more points for their team."

"I think I got all of that." Quill said.

"Me too." Aamira said.

Altaria smiled. "Alright then, good luck in the tournament and I hope you work hard for us when you're not competing."

"Wait, what was that last part?" Aamira asked.

Altaria looked at them confused for a moment and laughed. "Oh! You don't know! There's no entry fee for the tournament, so instead any team that wants to enter has to take missions for Divum citizens. Of course you didn't think that you were just here and entered automatically, did you?"

Quill and Aamira looked at each other and bursted out laughing.

"That's a relief!" Quill said. "For a while we thought that Noctowl was sending us on some cushy vacation!"

"Vacations never work out for us. And it's just been one mission after another. We thought that maybe Noctowl was trying to tell us something!" Aamira said.

Altaria looked even more confused. "Usually when I tell pokemon that part and they didn't already know it they're shocked and reluctant to enter the tournament. A lot of them want a vacation by the time they get here."

"We don't need a vacation." Quill said.

"If you get a job and you love what you're doing, you'll never have to work a day in your life." Aamira said.

Altaria smiled. "So true. Running a country is a lot of hard work, but I can't imagine ever wanting to do anything else."

Delibird flew back in and whispered something in Altaria's ear.

"Is that so?" She asked. "This is problematic. Well, it seems that I've got your first mission! We're supposed to have two special guests coming to watch the tournament, but they haven't arrived yet. Their timing is usually unbelievably accurate, so I can't imagine why they would be running late. If you could, head over to the southern most point of this city and wait for them."

"What kind of pokemon are they?" Quill asked.

"Trust me; you'll know them when you see them." Altaria said.

"This is kind of exciting, isn't it?" Aamira asked. "Our first mission given to us by someone not from our own country!"

"Let's work just as hard as we would in Sylva." Quill said.

Both of them headed out. All the pokemon on the streets looked in their direction when they passed by. It seemed so weird. Everyone in Vine City was so used to seeing them that they didn't really think of them as famous, but now they could see how famous they had become. At the southern tip of the city, they looked out over the rest of Divum and the mountain range beyond. It looked so beautiful in the setting sun. In fact they could see everything from there. Everything except the pokemon they were looking for.

They heard fighting coming from behind them. They turned and saw Lucario fighting a Riolu. There were two other Riolu watching, both with serious expression on their faces. The Riolu that Lucario was fighting looked badly hurt and was crying, but wasn't giving up. In fact, it looked like he was the one that was attacking Lucario.

"What's going on here?" Aamira said.

The two Riolu came forward and did a sort of salute by putting their fists on their chests. Aamira wasn't sure if she should do the same or if she was supposed to respond some other way, but she decided to wing it and try it.

"No, not another one!" The Riolu that was fighting Lucario backed away a little. "This isn't fair! I'm not used to this sort of pressure."

Lucario turned to Aamira and crossed his arms. "Relax. Under no circumstances would I take a weakling like that Aamira under my wing!"

"Aamira?" the Riolu looked up at her hopefully.

"What's going on here?" Aamira repeated.

"Training." Lucario said. "This Riolu wanted me to train him and I tried telling him it would be too rough, but he just won't quit. My students can stand up to my attacks with no problem, but this Riolu's almost as worthless as you."

Riolu flinched.

Aamira smirked. "And I suppose you're just borrowing that sapphire pendant you took from him?"

Riolu, looking a little stunned, put his hands around his neck trying to feel for the pendant.

Lucario's eyes widened like before. "How did you…?" He pulled out the pendant from his Collection Bag and threw it back to Riolu. "Smart, Aamira, but how weak would that make you?" Lucario walked away. His two students did the salute again and followed him without waiting for Aamira to do the same.

Riolu ran up to them. "How did you know he took my pendant?"

"It was… a lucky guess, I suppose." Aamira said.

"And you just happened to guess it was a sapphire pendant?" Quill asked.

"I don't even know why I said anything. Lucario said that Lucario and Riolu can sense what the intentions are of other Lucario and Riolu, so maybe that's it? You could have been so distracted by the uh… training that you didn't notice." Aamira said.

"Maybe." Riolu looked at his pendant for a second and put it around his neck. "I inherited this pendant from my parents. They died before I even hatched, so I've basically been on my own all this time. You might think that would make me tough, but instead I just run and hide when I think there's going to be a fight. I get found a lot though because the other pokemon can sense my fear and can find me easily, so I get beat up a lot. What Lucario did is pretty much what I have to deal with on a regular basis, but I thought he could help me get stronger. You've obviously been trained by a Lucario though."

"No, I haven't actually." Aamira said.

"But then how did you know the salute? Usually only Riolu that train under a Lucario master would do that salute. That's why I got so scared before. I was under pressure with a couple of trained Riolu watching me like that."

"Did I do something wrong? I didn't even see another Lucario until yesterday. I just did that because the other Riolu did that."

"No, no! That wasn't wrong at all! It's a symbol of strength and honor. Most Riolu are too… shy, I guess, to want to do that salute until they're trained by a master. It shows how great you really are!"

"Honestly I had no idea what I was doing. You can't think I'm great just for that."

"But you've done so much! And no one even knows where you really come from! It's so cool and mysterious!"

"Yea, tell me about it." She said absentmindedly. "Oh, we're supposed to be looking for a couple of special pokemon that are coming to watch the tournament. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"No, I don't. Sorry. Oh, by the way, I grew up with another pokemon who always pronounces Riolu 'Roy', so that sort of became my name."

Aamira laughed. "That's sort of cute."

Roy smiled awkwardly. "Yea, I guess. I like it but a lot of people make fun of me for it."

"I understand that." Aamira said. "Investigation Teams get their own bases and each pokemon has their own room with their name on it. When we first started out and I got my own room, they spelled my name wrong."

"I bet that was pretty bad for you." he said. "I heard that you had lost your memory and your name is the only thing you could remember."

"Not even that. The only reason I remembered my name was because it was sewn into my scarf." Aamira showed it to him. "Weird huh?"

"I've always wondered about this scarf, though I suppose you don't know anything about it either."

"No, unfortunately. If I did, maybe I would know something about where I came from."

The aura sensors on both of them twitched and they looked around frantically.

"Maybe there's another Lucario or Riolu?" Aamira said.

"I don't think so." Roy said. "It's different. At least I think it is."

Aamira felt something grab her under her arms and she was lifted off of the ground a few inches. She looked above her but didn't see anything. She started flailing around trying to get down.

Quill and Roy noticed and backed up.

"What's going on?" Aamira looked back above her and a red and white dragon pokemon appeared. It was holding Aamira off the ground. "Latias?"

"Aamira!" Latias smiled and threw Aamira into the air. Aamira screamed, but Latias flew up and caught her on her back and sped off with Aamira hanging on for her life. Latias folded her wings against her sides, turned suddenly, and shot straight up into the air. She spread her wings out and stopped at suddenly as she had sped up. "Look!"

Aamira, still terrified and clinging onto Latias's neck, opened her eyes and looked around her. They were far above the clouds. Far beneath them was the huge mountain range and Divum. She couldn't see Quill or Roy at all from up there.

"And look that way." Latias turned and pointed. To the west was a terrifying looking mountain with black storm clouds all around. "That's Tempestas. We flew through on the way here."

"We?" Aamira said.

"Latios and I. He's here too."

Aamira looked around in all directions. Far too the south and just on the horizon, she could see a glimmering ocean. To the north and east were more mountains. To the southeast was a giant forest that Aamira knew must have been Silva.

"Latias…" She said. "I'm sorry about that night…"

"It's okay." She said. "I understand why you did it now. My home is beautiful. I'll take you to see it someday. It's in the middle of an enchanted forest far out to sea. There are pokemon there that you probably could never imagine. Of course there's the treasure we guard too, but everyone on the island knows not to mess with it, so Latios and I can pretty much do whatever we want. Unfortunately, the treasure isn't safe if one of us is there and the other isn't, so I could never come to visit. But I always wanted to repay you for everything you've done. I remember on our first and last night together you said you wanted to join me up in the air, so…"

"Thanks Latias." Both of them were crying by they were so happy to see each other again.

"Latios is with Quill and your other friend. I can combine your aura with our sight sharing so they can see what we do."

"Alright."

Latias flew off. The two of them did all kinds of maneuvering and flew down between the mountains. They even flew out of the forest and over a wide plain for a few minutes before making a sharp turn and heading back. They got back and landed next to Quill, Roy, and Latios. Quill and Roy both looked dizzy from the sight sharing.

"That was amazing!" Quill finally said.

"I can't believe you're back!" Aamira hugged Latias as hard as she could without strangling her. "And you're so much taller than last time! You used to be half my height!"

"But I get to be about twice your height. I'm about three fourths of the way there." She said.

"You really are cool, Aamira!" Roy said. "You know legendaries!"

"Actually, Aamira raised Latias. So she's sort of like Latias's foster mom." Quill said.

"Even cooler!" Roy practically yelled.

"Oh, Quill! I got stronger too, see?" Latias punched him in the stomach and sent him flying about fifty feet into a giant boulder, which shattered when Quill hit it.

Quill stumbled and got up. Everyone was surprised that he was even conscious. "Yep… A lot stronger…"

Latias and Latios laughed.

"Wait." Aamira said. "You two aren't the pokemon we were supposed to be waiting for, are you?"

"That's right." Latios said. "This festival is held in the wind country, so the Latias and Latios guardians always come to see it. We've sealed up the treasure so it can't be stolen, but it will only last for the tournament. After that we have to go home."

"So us meeting again was a complete coincidence!" Latias smiled.

"Then I love coincidences!" Aamira said.

"We should go see Altaria and let her know we got here." Latios said. "Latias wanted to see you so much that we flew to Silva, but Noctowl told us you had actually left for Divum. It was a complete surprise to us, but anyway, that's why we were so late."

Aamira smiled, unable to believe that Latias didn't mind being late for something like this if it meant seeing her.

Latias and Latios flew the three of them (Roy wanted to go to) back to the stone tree so they could see Altaria. Afterwards, Altaria had one of the Swablu to show them to an inn where all of the teams were staying. They had to share a room with Team Sky and Team Overgrow, which wasn't very pleasant because Sceptile was still mad at Aamira and Team Sky wasn't there yet.

Apparently pokemon that weren't in an Investigation Team could still enter the Attack Tournaments and Species Tournaments and they got prizes for winning instead of extra points. The Investigation Team member with the highest score still got extra points, though, even if they didn't win the whole thing. Roy said that he had entered in the tournament also and, as it turned out, his room was right next to theirs. After a while Roy had to leave and Quill and Aamira were left alone with Team Overgrow in an awkward silence.

After a while Aipom and Mankey came back. Aipom was being carried in by a Swablu and was barely hurt. Everyone rushed over to her. She had burns all over her and her eyes were filled with tears. The whole time while Sceptile bandaged her wounds she kept saying Infernape's name angrily over and over again.

"What do you have against that Infernape anyway?" Quill asked.

"She used to be my friend!" Aipom said angrily through her tears. "Remember that day we first became Investigation Team members? I said I wanted to pay back someone. Back when she was a Chimchar, she used to be my best friend. We started in the academy, but other pokemon weren't always kind to us. We got in fights and lost time and time again. She finally had enough of it. We got in a big argument, she punched me, and ran off. She said that there was no way she could ever become strong with someone like me holding her back. I never saw her again, but I hated her for it. Mankey started in the academy a while later and we became friends right away. I figured it was just because Infernape was a fire type that we didn't get along well. That's why I was so harsh towards you when you first moved to Vine City, Quill. After your brother died I figured I was wrong about you."

"So that's why you defended me all the time whenever we were at the academy." Quill said. "You didn't want a repeat of what happened to her, so even though we weren't planning on being on the same team, you helped me."

Aipom nodded. "But what are we going to do? I'm not fit to compete in this condition. We can't be in the tournament."

Aamira caught the eye of Swablu. "Is it legal for a replacement if something like this happens?"

"Of course." Swablu said. "It's completely legal if the fight was before the tournament and the team member that got hurt is on a team that was already registered."

"We registered." Aipom said.

Aamira got up and left. A few minutes later she came back with Roy. "This is Roy. He was going to compete in the Attack and Species Tournaments. Why not let him be your replacement?"

Roy jumped. "Me? Compete on a team in the tournament? No, I'll mess everything up!"

"But we can't compete at all if we don't have at least two members." Mankey said. "We're out for good if you don't do this. Please, we don't know anyone in Divum that's not already on a team!"

"And I don't know if you knew this," Aamira said, "but on a team, even if one member just stands back and does nothing, both team members get experience from it."

Roy's eyes widened. "Really? So I could get stronger from this?" He turned out Aipom and Mankey. "I-I'll do it!"

Aipom and Mankey cheered.

"Great." Swablu said. "Now that you've got that worked out, I'll go make the changes to your registration.

"Thanks, Roy. And you too Aamira!" Aipom turned to Sceptile. "I don't see why you're so mad at her."

"Can't be trusted…" Sceptile said simply.

"Why don't you trust her?" Roy asked. "She got back my pendant from Lucario."

"Of course she did." Sceptile said. "Are you Lucario's friend too?"

Aamira sat on the ground and looked away from Sceptile. She had never felt so mad before, but she was so mad that somehow she didn't know how to show it.

"Why don't you trust her?" Roy repeated.

"Because I'm not really a Riolu." Aamira said angrily.

"What do you mean?" Roy asked. "You look like a normal Riolu every which way, although your aura does feel a little different."

"I'm a Riolu now, anyway, but I'm not supposed to be. At one point, I was a human."

Aipom and Mankey both shouted and backed away as if she had some sort of contagious disease.

"You're not serious!" Aipom said, obviously scared out of her mind.

Mankey looked around. "Wait, did you all know about this?"

"We knew." Venusaur said.

"I knew too." Quill said. "Well of course I knew. I was the one that found her unconscious next to Shroud Lake."

"Not me, I didn't know this." Roy said. "But that explains so much! Why no one knows who you are, why no one knows where you come from, it somewhat explains why you just suddenly appeared, and your scarf."

Aamira looked up at him. "What about my scarf?" she asked.

"I always thought that symbol looked familiar." Roy said. "I could never put my finger on it though. You know there's a legend here in Divum about a human that turns into a pokemon?"

Aamira rose to her feet. "Are you serious? You have to tell me!"

"A-Alright. Long ago there was a pokemon that flew across the world to keep the peace between humans and pokemon. She was a giant bird pokemon that glowed with seven colors of the rainbow."

"Ho-oh?" Aamira asked.

"You even know its name!" Roy said in amazement. "Well anyway, according to legend there was one human in particular that Ho-oh was very fond of. That human trained three Lucario at one time so they could help guard Ho-oh's tower. The three of them even evolved at the same time because of her training. They each wore purple scarves with the symbol of peace and balance on it because the human and the three Lucario were part of an elite group dedicated to helping the legendary pokemon help others. And that's exactly what they did.

"One night the human was kidnapped by a group of humans with bad intentions in their hearts. According to the legend, the human, who had the rare gift of sensing aura, was suffocated by the blackness of their aura. She lost her mind because of it and eventually became as cruel and heartless as the other humans. She pretended to be as nice as ever and no one suspected a thing.

"One day she led the three Lucario into the tower's basement where they usually trained and trapped the three of them in there so they couldn't interfere. She made an aura barrier that was too strong for them to break through. The other humans came to find Ho-oh and rob her of a precious treasure. Ho-oh burned down the tower, not knowing that the three Lucario were still inside, and she fled. Upon her return, she found that the humans had all escaped and that the three Lucario had died in the fire. She cried for them and her tears revived them, but they were different then before. One of them became Entei, the pokemon of lava, the second became Raikou, the pokemon of lightning, and the third became Suicune, the pokemon of the North Winds. The three were ashamed of not being able to see the human for what she was and for being so easily tricked. They all fled and ran and ran without ever stopping.

"Ho-oh was horrified by what she had a part in doing. She found all the humans in the world and made a new world parallel to this one. She forced them all to go there and live their lives. She knew that there would always be a human that might try to make their way back to the pokemon world, so she erased all of their memories. As for the human that had betrayed her, she wasn't found. Ho-oh left to circle above the world until humans and pokemon could become friends again, but she knew that it could never be possible.

"One day while she was passing over the place her tower once stood, she saw another one that was built right next to it. Someone had even taken the bells, which were the only things that hadn't been destroyed in the fire, and put them in the new tower. She landed on the roof where she usually roosted and found the human laying there, asleep. She had dark circles under her eyes, which showed that she hadn't slept in days. Ho-Oh knew that she had been waiting there for her to return. When the human woke up, she pleaded with Ho-oh to forgive her for what she had done.

"'I could never forgive you.' Ho-Oh said. 'Your heart wouldn't have been corrupted if part of it hadn't already been corrupted from the start. Deep down you were always evil and you always wanted the power that embodies all pokemon.'"

"The human smirked. Her heart was still corrupted and the whole time she had planned to trap Ho-oh and steal her treasure. 'So what are you going to do to me?' She asked. 'Bring me to that human world where I'll forget any wrongs I'll have ever committed, or kill me like you accidentally killed the Lucario where again I'll go without worry of what I've done?'"

"Ho-Oh's head spun with guilt, worry, hatred, and even pity. She screeched and used her special attack, Sacred Fire, and engulfed the human. However, the flames didn't hurt the human as one might have expected them to. Instead, they transformed the human into a pokemon. Then, so the human would never try anything like this again, she erased her memories and the pokemon that was once human disappeared. 'You've always wanted the power that pokemon have, so now you've got it. You'll wake up some time in the far future to an alien world you don't know. This will be your punishment: to wander in this alien world and suffer by wondering why you have been cursed like this, and if perhaps you've done something wrong. This story will become a legend and if you feel the guilt for the things you've done even without remembering what you've done, you will be turned back into a human and be reborn in the human world. If you feel no guilt even after you hear the story, you'll remain a pokemon forced to wonder why you were like this.'"

Aamira was staring at the ground. She tried to tune most of the story out, but she couldn't. She was terrified and couldn't breathe. Was it possible? Everything in the story matched so perfectly. The human in the story had even trained Lucario and, of course, must have known everything about legendary pokemon because of what her job was.

"A-Aamira?" Quill said. "Are you okay…?"

Aamira looked up and looked at Sceptile and Venusaur. "You knew about this!"

"Aye…" Venusaur said quietly.

"That's why you hate me so much, Sceptile?"

Sceptile looked at her. "You're not a human. You didn't turn back like the legend says you should have. Why should I trust you?"

Aamira started crying and ran out of the door.

"Wait! Aamira!" Quill tried to follow her, but Roy stopped him.

"I don't know if she was evil once or not, but I know one thing. She's hurting now and needs some time to be alone." He said.

Quill had started crying too. He pushed Roy down. "Why did you have to tell her that story? Everything was fine before then!" Quill laid down and curled up, his flame drowned out by his tears.

Aamira ran as fast as she could, not knowing or caring where she was going. She climbed up one of the mountains bordering Divum and sat on a cliff. She sat there crying until dawn.

"What are you doing here?" Charmeleon walked towards her and noticed that she was crying. "Did something happen?"

Aamira explained the whole thing. Charmeleon had also heard the legend, but didn't think anything of it because he hadn't known about Aamira once being a human and because the scarf had been only a small detail in it, he had completely forgotten about it.

"So even after that, you didn't turn back into a human? Harsh." Charmeleon didn't even seem to care about anything else in the story.

"How could you not care about anything else?" Aamira yelled at him.

"You're not a bad person. You pretended to be just to rescue an Oddish. Then that time at the river I tried to manipulate you with words and mind control and it still didn't work. Then you even helped me, an outlaw, because you pitied me. Of course you didn't do it for free. You even wanted me to return the Grace-Seed in return for helping me. I doubt it was you and even if it was, you obviously do feel guilty. If you didn't, why would you be up here crying?"

"No, I don't feel guilty at all. And you forgot I was also helping you to get more power for myself just like in the story. I don't feel guilty at all… Just scared for what everyone thinks of me and what they might want to do to me. As much as I try, I can't bring myself to care too much."

Charmeleon looked at her sadly then looked out over the mountain range emotionlessly. "You were famous. Now people will shun you and even try to capture you for something you might not have done. No one will ever understand you and you'll be all alone even if you ever get any friends because even they won't understand what it's like to be you. You'll go mad and eventually only want more power, because becoming more powerful is the only way you could ever survive in this cruel world that doesn't feel like your own."

"How do you know all of that?" Aamira asked.

"Because that's what I had to go through and what I'm still going through. I was convicted for a crime I didn't do. Now, I'm hated by everyone. Especially Sceptile."

"What happened?"

"You already know the story. Sort of. I was passing through Sylva on my way to deliver a message to Noctowl from my dad. It was so important that my dad didn't even trust Delibird with it. I was passing through Miracle City when a fire started. No one in Sylva trusted me much even then, so I thought maybe I could earn their trust by putting out the fire. I started a second fire for a back fire. When both of the fires ran into each other they would run out of things to burn and both would burn out.

"Team Overgrow saw me starting the backfire and thought that I had caused the fire. They tried to stop me, but I defeated them easily with my fire type attacks. Their wounds weren't serious, except for Sceptile's because he was the one that just wouldn't give up. The fire had spread so I moved to extinguish it. After I finally got the fire out I went to deliver the message to Noctowl.

"As soon as I set foot in the city, they arrested me. Meganium was dead and Sceptile had told everyone that he had watched me kill her. According to the other pokemon in the prison, at night I would mumble 'I didn't do it' over and over again in my sleep. Finally my dad came for me and brought me home, but he never trusted me much since. I formed an Investigation Team with Typhlosion and Infernape to prove to him that he could trust me. But he couldn't. I became corrupted by the people that shunned me. We're exactly the same."

"But I did something worse than what you were accused of." Aamira said.

"You didn't do it! I know you didn't! And Quill knows too. I know he does. He looks up to you. There's no way he could ever think of you as a bad person. And he feels what you do, doesn't he? So he knows how you feel about this as much as I do. And he cares as much as I do."

Aamira stood up. "I'm leaving. And I'm never coming back."

"What? You can't leave!" Charmeleon ran in front of her to stop her. "What kind of friend would that make you? If you leave, Quill will be disqualified from the tournament. He couldn't find a replacement in time. Maybe he wouldn't even bother looking for one. You've given him so much. A friend, a teammate, even an older sister. More than that though, he would be crushed if you just left. And so would I…"

Aamira started crying again. "But we're not exactly the same, you and I. You didn't do what you were accused for and I might have. You had a home to go back to and... I don't."


	20. Chapter 20 Divum's Treasure

Aamira walked towards the inn. Quill, Mankey, and Roy ran towards her. 

"You're back!" Quill said. "We were so worried about you last night!" 

"You were… worried…?" Aamira said expressionlessly. She really didn't think any of them would be after what happened. 

"Of course we were!" Mankey said. "Aipom was worried too, but her legs were pretty stiff this morning and they hurt from the burns, so she couldn't come out." 

"I'm sorry!" Roy said. "I never should have told you the story! It's all my fault…" 

"No, it isn't." Aamira said with a weak smile. "I wanted you to tell me. And anyway, nothing's certain yet. It might not be me."

"Well, it's just that, Team Overgrow…" Roy said. 

Aamira's smiled faded. "What about Team Overgrow? What were they thinking last night?" 

All of them looked between each other, obviously not wanting to say anything. 

"Sceptile…" Quill couldn't think of the words to describe how he felt about this. "Well even Venusaur doesn't trust you much anymore." 

"We shouldn't tell anyone else about this." Mankey said. "Surely people will start to think you have something to do with the imbalance in aura. Let's keep going as we normally would and pretend that nothing's happened at all." 

"I'll help as much as I can, even though I'm not that strong." Roy said. 

Aamira nodded. "Thanks."

"Welcome to everyone, to the 345th annual Investigator Trilogy!" Altaria said. The pokemon in the crowd started cheering. All of the teams from all of the different countries entered through the big door in the coliseum. 

Aamira looked around. The coliseum looked like a roman coliseum. Up at the top was a box that Altaria was in along with Latias and Latios. Latias waved when she saw Aamira. 

"Relax will you?" Quill whispered to Aamira. 

"It's not me that's nervous." Right behind Aamira was Roy. Since he was a regular Riolu, his emotions were felt by everyone around him. He was scared now since he had never actually battled in a team before. 

We'll go through the countries east to west, as tradition." Altaria said. "When I call your team's name, walk up to the circle in the center of the coliseum, then to the other side of the stadium. First Team Overgrow. A platinum rank from Sylva." The crowd cheered as they walked to the center of the stadium looked up towards Altaria, and kept walking. 

"The next team from Sylva is Team Sky, A gold rank team, with the replacement member, Roy." Mankey practically had to drag Roy because of how nervous he was. They faced Altaria for a few seconds and kept walking. 

"The last team from Sylva, is another gold rank team, Team Sleuth and what a creative team name that is." The crowd laughed a little. Quill and Aamira walked to the center and faced Altaria as the other teams had done. The crowd went back to cheering and the two of them walked to the other side. 

"Roy, could you try to calm down?" Quill asked. 

"It's not me." He said. "After that, I don't feel nervous at all. It's pretty cool, actually, having a crowd cheer for you."

"Then…" Quill looked at Aamira. She kept glancing over at Team Overgrow. Sceptile had been staring at her the whole time out of the corner of his eye. Quill grabbed Aamira's hand. "Relax. What do you think they're going to do? Tell the whole coliseum?"

"Truthfully…" Aamira kept thinking about what Charmeleon had told her. He had said that in complete honesty. She knew he didn't attack Meganium. 

"From Tempestas, Team Spark!" The crowd cheered and a Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun walked to the center, then went to join everyone else. 

"Well, if it isn't our old friends!" Plusle said. 

"Didn't expect to see you again so soon." Pikachu said. 

"Do we know you?" Quill asked. 

The three of them jumped.

"How could you say that?" Minun shouted at Quill. "It was only days ago that we tried to rob you at the temple in Glacies."

Aamira looked over towards Sceptile again. They made eye contact for a second and turned away.

"Not getting along well these day, eh?" Pikachu said to them. "Makes things all the more easier for us."

"Like we'd ever lose to someone like you!" Quill shouted. More teams had gathered without them even realizing it. 

"For Aequor, the first team is, Team Hydro!" An Empoleon and a Blastois walked to the center of the arena then joined everyone else on the other side of the stadium. 

"Wow! Team Hydro!" Quill said. "They're so strong and honorable. They're the best team in Aequor!" 

"The second team from Aequor is Team Spout." A Whiscash and two Barboach walked to the center of the arena and then to the other side to join everyone else. 

"They must be nearly done." Quill said. "Aequor is all the way in the west along with Ignis."

"The third team is Team Shimmer!" 

Aamira watched in horror as a Milotic, Prinplup, and Golduck walked to the center of the arena. "Again? Really? I'm starting to doubt our ability to make peace with people outside of Sylva." 

"It's good to see you too, Aamira." Milotic said in her mocking voice. "I thank you for that generous gift you gave to us on Stony Ridge." 

Sceptile turned to Milotic. "You're well?" 

"Sceptile! My dear friend! Of course I am. Do these scales lie to you? And I see you're as good as ever." Milotic smiled at him and joined the other teams from Aequor. "I look forward to our rematch my old friend!" 

"As do I." Sceptile said with a smile.

Aamira's eye twitched. 'This just isn't my day…' She thought. 'Sceptile is friends with Milotic? Even now that she's an outlaw…? Then again…' Aamira glanced over at him. 'this might not be such a bad thing.' 

"The second Team from Ignis is Team Blazer!" Charmeleon, Typhlosion, and Infernape walked into the center of the stadium and went to join the rest of the teams. 

Typhlosion and Infernape walked to the other team from Ignis that had already been introduced. Charmeleon walked over by Aamira. "Get a load of this next lot." 

"And our last team is… What a surprise! It's the lovely Team Phoenix." The crowd Cheered louder than before as A fox pokemon with nine tails, a horse pokemon with a horn and fiery mane, and a dog-like pokemon with a large fiery tail and a mane all walked to the center of the arena and went to join the other teams from Ignis. 

"Who are they?" Aamira asked. 

"Famous in my country." Charmeleon said. "The one with nine tails is… Ninetales, obviously. She's the team's leader. She goes on and on about her tails being magic. They sure do enchant people, though. People have adored her for her beauty for hundreds of years." 

"Hundreds?" 

"Ninetales can live up to a thousand years. She's been famous longer than anyone else here, obviously. The second member is Rapidash. She's constantly showing off her fiery mane and loves racing around at top speed. She wants to be the fastest Rapidash that ever lived. That last one is Flareon. Really strong, but no one's sure where she came from."

"Flareon?" Quill said. "I think that might be Espeon's sister. Leafeon said everyone in their family, except Eevee, of course, had a name ending in eon." 

"Yes, she might be. Wow your country sure loses a lot of citizens to Ignis, doesn't it?" 

"Just don't go mentioning that in front of Aipom!" Mankey snapped at him. "Infernape is probably all she can think about being all locked up in the infirmary." 

"Those are the entrants for this year's competition. Get in as much practice as you can before the first event, which will start at sundown tonight!" After Altaria finished what she was saying, the crowd cheered louder than before and the teams started to disband for some last minute training. 

Infernape walked right up to Aamira. "So you're that no good Aamira that put our leader's tail out?" 

"No!" Quill walked up to Infernape. "I did that! Either keep your facts straight or keep your big mouth shut!" 

The flame on Infernape's head flared up. 

"Infernape!" Charmeleon snapped at her. "Save your energy for the competition. You can do whatever you want then." 

"You're right." The flame on her head went down a little. "Why waist my energy on someone like him? That puny shrimp can wait to be roasted in the competition. But you!" She pointed a finger at Aamira. "If you hurt Charmeleon at all during this, I'll snap your neck!" She walked away and even as she walked she looked threatening. 

"I just love all these charming female fire types I'm meeting!" Quill said sarcastically. "Seriously, her personality's even better than Houndoom's!" 

"Yea, she's always been like that…" Charmeleon said. 

"Oh that reminds me, Quill." Aamira tried to keep herself from laughing. "Remember yesterday? 'Quill, will you marry me?'" Aamira fell on the ground laughing so hard her lungs hurt. "Oh you should have seen the look on your face!" 

Quill jumped. "Yea, really funny! Knock it off!" 

"Excuse me." Ninetales walked up to Aamira. "I was wondering about that scarf you're wearing."

"This?" Aamira looked at her scarf. 'Oh, it was a part of the legend. Did she figure it out?' 

"My grandmother lived in a time when most Riolu and Lucario wore scarves like those. You must be a really great pokemon to be awarded something like that in this time period. Even back then, it was a symbol of heroic acts." Ninetales walked away with the other members of her team following her. 

"She knows…" Charmeleon said. "She's not as kind hearted as she wants you to believe. She must have been able to sense that you were a human then asked you about the scarf to see how nervous you would have been." 

"You really think so?" Aamira asked. 

"Of course that's it." Sceptile said. "You're no hero…" 

"Harsh." Typhlosion watched Sceptile as he left. "That guy's supposed to be your friend?" 

"No, he's not." Aamira said. "I need to be alone for a while." She headed towards one of the other doors in the coliseum so she wouldn't end up running into Sceptile again. 

Venusaur sighed. "I'm not sure what I believe anymore… I'm guessing that Sceptile and Aamira are both feeling really betrayed by this. They both probably feel like everyone's against them. And I'm guessing that you, Charmeleon, are the worst off with all of this renewed hatred at Sceptile for accusing you for something you didn't do and then turning on Aamira like this." 

Charmeleon turned to Venusaur. "You were there! And you just said I didn't do it! Doesn't that prove something?" 

"Well like I said, I'm not sure what to believe. The memory is a strange thing. I remember Sceptile laying there and shouting at the air after Meganium went off to find you. He really did seem to be seeing something. Then again, if I try to remember sometimes I do see you attacking Meganium right in front of us like he said you did. Sometimes I wonder which of those memories is real. Do I remember Meganium dying because Sceptile said she did, or did she really die? Do I not remember it because I'm in denial, or because she didn't?" He sighed again. "Both memories seem so real, but I have no idea which one is real." 

"Ah, false memories." Charmeleon nodded. "People have long wondered about false memories. Are we really who we think we are, or do our memories keep changing? I guess technically there's no way to know. All we can do is believe who we are is really who we are and then maybe things would turn out okay." 

"That's pretty wise for someone like you." Venusaur said. "You might not be a kid but you're not that old either. I think it was actually Noctowl who wrote something like that. He's always been curious about things that he can't see." 

"I understand that…" Charmeleon turned to leave. "I guess I'll go train some more before tonight. I need to be alone to think for a while."

Quill watched him sadly as he walked out. "Why does this have to happen? Aamira and I were friends but this had to happen and everything fell apart. Everyone's in nothing but a bad mood."

"Well, think about it this way." Venusaur said. "If it turns out Aamira isn't the one from the legend, she'll be happier and closer to you and the rest of her friends more than ever, Sceptile would trust her again and probably be more opened to trusting Charmeleon as a result, and if he really is innocent, an unworthy outlaw finally walks free." 

"I never thought of it that way." Quill looked up at the bleachers in the stadium. Everyone had left at this point. "I think I'll go find Charmeleon. Aamira trusts him completely, it seems. I want to figure out what part of his point of view makes her see things the way he does." He walked out after Charmeleon. 

"Poor kid." Typhlosion said. "He doesn't have any part of this, but it's like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. He would do anything to help his friend, wouldn't he?" He went quiet for a minuet. "You think I should tell him the truth?" 

"One day you should." Venusaur said. "Sceptile and I didn't tell Aamira about the legend from here because I didn't think she was ready to hear it, and Sceptile was certain it was her and didn't want to bring back her memories. He's not ready to hear something like that. Who knows? As an investigation team member, he might figure it out someday on his own." 

"Charmeleon! Wait up!" Charmeleon turned around and stopped long enough for Quill to catch up. Quill was almost out of breath. "I… I wanted to… see if you were really telling the truth." 

"So now what?" He asked impatiently.

Quill's breath seemed to return at once. "I'm not really sure… Well, it's true that I've only heard one side of the story. Maybe if you told me yours?" 

Charmeleon sighed. "Fine." He told the whole story about the fire he had tried to stop and about being arrested after he had gotten into the city. Quill was staring at him in amazement. "Well there's your story, though I doubt it's changed anything for you." 

"Well there are a couple of things I don't understand." He said. "If you were released from prison, why are you an outlaw in Sylva now? And why were you mocking Sceptile about Meganium before?" 

"There's a simple answer for both of those. Me and my team used to work solely for my father. He didn't use us as much after I messed up, so I started looking for work for anyone I could find. Most of them were outlaws but they paid well and that's all I cared about. I've stolen so much from Sylva and done so many other things that I was still an outlaw there. I hated everyone in Sylva so much that it didn't even hurt me at all to take a little kid like Oddish hostage. But Sceptile was different. I hated him beyond words. Taunting him about Meganium was the only way I knew to get back at him." He sighed. "I was so full of hate. But then you put my flame out, which made my view of things change. Then Aamira helped me get it back, which changed me for good." 

"You really have changed…" Quill said. "I was a little mad when Aamira didn't tell me about the grace seed, but I didn't care anymore after a while. I was more worried about her spending the day with an outlaw." 

With Latias's help, Aamira finally found a place she could be alone. At the base of a mountain was a forest. She sat alone in the forest next to a pond, listening to the bird pokemon singing. There was also a pond that was shining in the light that was shining through the leaves on the trees. As peaceful as it was, Aamira kept having bad thoughts about who she might have been as a human. She sat with her feet in the pond and looked down at her reflection. She sighed and put her head in her hands. 

"Not having fun I take it?" 

Aamira lifted her head and turned around. Walking up behind her was Blastois. "No, I'm not really." She returned to her previous position. 

"And why's that?" Blastois asked. 

"I'm really shouldn't tell anyone. But how would you feel if you heard about something that might make everyone else think that you were a criminal?" 

"I would just ignore them. I would know that I didn't do anything and I would just ignore the stares and whispers. What else is there to do?" 

"But what if you thought you might have done what they're all talking about but didn't know for sure?"

"I don't really see how that's possible if it was something really bad, but I guess I would just ignore them until I found out for myself. Even if all evidence pointed to me being guilty, I wouldn't think on it for a moment unless I knew for sure." 

"But what if a really close friend of yours, who you worked so hard to gain the trust of, thought for sure it was you?" 

"You're talking about Sceptile, aren't you?" Blastois sighed. "He's always been a bit mysterious. Never really trusted anyone after what happened with Charmeleon." 

Aamira stood up suddenly. "He didn't do it!" 

"I don't mean the thing about Meganium. No, they hated each other even before then. Bitter rivals, they were. One of them was always trying to show the other how much better he was. I knew it was a matter of time before one of them went a little overboard."

"But why didn't either of them tell me…?" A thought came to Aamira that she didn't think she would have. 'What if Charmeleon did do it? What if he didn't tell me this to hide the truth?'

"Either way, if Sceptile's mad, just ignore him until he comes to his senses. You know that Sylva had only won this competition once before? In fact, that was the last time Team Overgrow was entered in it. They want to keep up their winning streak, see? Sceptile wouldn't jeopardize someone from his own country." 

'I'm not from his country.' Aamira thought. 'I'm just fighting with them for now.' "Thanks, Blastois. I'm not sure how easy it will be getting through this, but you've been a great help." 

"Why do you look so calm?" Sceptile asked as Aamira walked back into their room in the Inn. 

"What does it matter to you?" Aamira asked calmly. "Anyway, I'm going to get some rest before tonight." She laid down on one of the beds and fell asleep almost immediately.

"Well what do you expect from being out all night?" Quill sighed. 

"She's acting more like before." Sceptile said. 

"Like before?" Quill snapped at him. "You're talking as if we already knew for sure that it was her in the legend!" Sceptile didn't say another word.

A few hours later Quill woke Aamira up and all of them headed to the stadium. Aamira was still nervous, but not as much as before. Sceptile even looked mad that she was so calm. 

"This will be the first part of the tournament." Altaria said to all the teams. The battle field in front of them opened into a large staircase. "Get through this hidden dungeon and come back with the treasure of Divum." 

Aamira looked over at Team Spark. Like she thought they would, it seemed they were devising a plan to steal it. 

Altaria gave them the signal to start and all the Investigation teams ran into the dungeon. There was more than one entrance to the dungeon, so every team picked a separate one and headed in.

Quill looked back as the door shut behind them. "I hope we picked a good entrance." Quill turned to see a large hole in the floor. On the other side was the staircase leading down to the next level. 

"Look here." There was a sign next to the hole. Aamira read it out loud. "True this dungeon goes down, but downward is also the exit. Fall in through here and exit immediately and this first tournament you will have lost." 

"Great, so how do we get across?" 

"Simple, isn't it?" Aamira unraveled the vine around her Aura Staff and threw it. The spear stuck into the wall above the stair case. Aamira pulled on the vine to make sure it was safe. "Alright, let's go." The two of them swung over on the vine. Aamira got the spear out of the wall and the two of them proceeded to the next floor. 

"Woa!" Aamira looked around. "It's a maze. This isn't like any other dungeon I've seen. This sure is something. Quill…?" Aamira turned. Quill was nowhere to be seen. "Quill!" She spotted a sign to the entrance to a corridor. "'All of you must be together to proceed to the next floor. Who has the advantage? A team with more members has more people to find, but a higher chance of running into teammates and vice versa. The clock is ticking. Exit on time or exit the dungeon.' What? A timed race?" Aamira ran into the corridor to begin looking for Quill. 

After a few minutes, more teams had gathered. Some had attacked one another, though it was hard to tell if the attacks were intentional or not. A lot of dungeon pokemon, the same species as the entrants, had been placed in the dungeon making it more confusing. Aamira got attacked at every turn, but all she had to do was use Drain Punch to heal herself and leave the attacker stunned long enough to get away. 

Once she was viciously attacked by a Cyndaquil that she thought was Quill. 'I won't let them sneak up on me again. I get this now. Attack before being attacked.' Aamira turned a corner and saw a Typhlosion walking in front of her. She jumped and used force palm. 

Typhlosion turned and Flamethrower on Aamira. Aamira was knocked against the wall. "Chill out! It's me!"

"Typhlosion? It's hard to tell everyone apart in here. There was a Cyndaquil wearing a Joy Ribbon like Quill's but it ended up being a dungeon pokemon." 

"Same for me. All of these dungeon Infernape's are perfect imitations of the real one." He laughed. "Of course you stick out like a sore purple thumb with that scarf." 

"Glad I wore it." Aamira got up. "There's power in numbers." 

Typhlosion nodded. "Agreed."

Quill, being really small, was having an easy time of staying unnoticed as long as he kept his flame from sparking. A twig snapped somewhere behind him. Making sure he stayed in the shadows, he turned and looked behind him. No one was there. He turned around. A pokemon in front of him was glowing so bright he couldn't tell what it was. It rammed into him and Quill laid on his back, unable to move for a few seconds. 

"Oh, it's you." It was Charmeleon. "Sorry, I didn't know. I saw you sneaking around and thought you were up to something." 

"Oh, no big deal!" Quill rolled over and got up. "So THAT'S Return! Wow, that's something. I had no idea." 

"Well, let's go. We're both trying to get to the exit, so we should try to find it. Then we might run into our team members." 

"Alright, I guess." Quill got out a notebook that he usually used in a hard investigation. "I mapped out the parts of this dungeon I've already been in." 

"So have I." Charmeleon handed Quill a notebook he had been using. Quill traced the lines and made a map of what seemed could be half of the dungeon. 

"Okay, based on this, I'd say our best option would be heading to the southeast part of the dungeon. That's the one area neither of us explored." A strange wind blew through the dungeon. 

"The first warning." Charmeleon said. "The wind blew once. If it blows two more times, we'll be blown right out of the dungeon."

The two of them ran, defeating enemies as they went. Their combined fire attacks lit up the dungeon and defeated anyone that would attack them. After a while the amount of pokemon they ran into started to decrease and they let down their guard somewhat. 

"So why exactly are you friends with Aamira?" Quill asked. 

"Well, why not? And one of these days I will figure out why Sylvans keep jumping in front of their friends to save their lives." He laughed a little. "I never thought I needed friends. Typhlosion and Infernape aren't really friends, to tell you the truth. This is what I always say: 'A friend is a blessing's curse.' As strong as I might be physically, maybe my heart isn't strong enough."

"That doesn't really answer my question." Quill said sourly. 

"I guess I'm just trying to say, I don't know why. Why does anyone become friends? Why are you friends with Aamira?" 

"Yea, I guess I get what you mean. But how can you say you never thought you would need friends?" 

"You would feel the same way if you grew up in Ignis. You would always have to compete over what you want, and if you ever lost you never got some gentle comfort from a parent; only disappointment. It's either you win or you don't. The more you grow to trust someone, the more ashamed you feel when they turn against you, so not many Ignians have friends, though sometimes acquaintances. Either follow someone for protection, and accept whatever consequences come your way, or become the best and know that everyone around you can only be trusted because they're weaker." 

"That's… That's horrible… How can anyone grow up like that?" 

"Ignis and Tempestas are the war countries. We're constantly feuding. No one in either of our countries cares about individuals but of the country as a whole. Sometimes if a kid has lost so often and is so weak that no one will even let them into their group, they'll be exiled from Ignis…. I was, once. I was too weak to do anything right. I was exiled by my own father, the leader of our country! I traveled as an outlaw then, and he only let me back when I risked my life to deliver a message from Tempestas. It turned out to be a peace treaty. Had I failed and our countries would have been, and most likely would still be, at war."

"You saved two countries from the very thing they were created for." Quill smirked. "But, that's exactly the same thing! You don't see others as your friends, but you were devoted to your country enough to risk everything to help save it from war!" 

Charmeleon sighed. "It doesn't feel the same somehow. Aamira and I promised that we would have a fair fight one of these days. That's why she shielded me from Prinplup's attack, but it's more then that. It's so hard to understand and even harder to explain." 

Out of nowhere, a chill ran up Quill's spine. He dodged to the side as an Aura Sphere flew passed him. "Aamira!" He turned. 

"Quill! It's actually you this time!" Aamira ran over to them. "And Charmeleon too. What a surprise!" 

"Had a feeling this would happen." Typhlosion said. 

"Are you okay?" Quill asked Aamira. "You look sick or something." 

Aamira gulped. "No, I'm fine." 

The day before, Quill had assured her that she could tell him anything. For her not wanting to tell him, it must have really been something she didn't want to talk about. Quill didn't question it anymore and they all headed towards the exit together. Right before they got there, the wind blew again. 

"There you are!" It was Infernape. "You know that joke of a team, Team Sky already went through here? And what are they doing with you!" 

Aamira noticed Typhlosion slip ten poke into Charmeleon's bag. She held back a laugh. Typhlosion had bet ten poke that Infernape would already be there, but Charmeleon had bet twenty that she would question why their two teams were together. Typhlosion didn't look too happy about it either. 

They advanced to the next floor. They heard a strong wind howling above them. 

"Just in time." Quill pointed to some diamond like spheres at the other end of the room. "And look! The treasures!"

"We'll take it from here." Infernape immediately started collecting all of the treasures.

"Hey, leave one for us at least!" Aamira said. 

Infernape turned to her. "Hah! Why would we? Less competition on our part!" 

"Enough!" Charmeleon used an escape orb and all but one of the treasures fell to the ground. The other one was teleported with them. 

"Huh. I guess we can only take one." Quill went to pick one up. 

"Wait!" Aamira pointed at another sign. "Look. It says 'There is no trick. Pick up the treasure and be teleported out.'"

"Yea? So they couldn't teleport out when they had more than one treasure. What else could it mean? It says 'there is no trick'." 

"But what if that's part of this trick? This is a triathlon, remember? So why were there only two challenges? And besides, it says 'treasure' which means one of one treasure. So one of these has to be the real treasure. There technically is no trick. Just pick up the treasure and teleport out. But it's harder because we have to find the real treasure." 

"Yea, maybe you're on to something." Quill looked at the wall behind the treasures. It looked strange. He walked up to it and pushed on it. He fell through as a ghost pokemon might phase through a wall.

Aamira, a bit shocked by what happened, followed. "I guess this illusion is no match for people who are used to hidden doors like us. Wait, this is like how we found our Aura Glasses."

"Oh yea!" Quill turned to the front of the room. "Oh no…" 

It was another room with what looked like a bottomless pit. There didn't seem to be any way to the other side and it was too far to throw a staff. 

Aamira took out her Aura Glass. "Okay, look. It's invisible. You can see it fine with an Aura Glass. The only problem is that the bridge is a maze." 

They wandered around on the invisible floor trying not to fall and trying to get to the other end to get to the next room. Finally after about twenty minutes, they made it. The two of them walks cautiously into the next room, not knowing what to expect. 

At the far end of the room, light was shining down from above. In the light was a moss-covered pedestal with a shining crystal rotating above it. 

"What if it's a trap?" Quill asked. 

"I don't think it would be…" Aamira walked towards the crystal cautiously and nothing happened. She reached out and grabbed it. 

'I don't mind living my life alo— My brothers will run by me. –must soon find a place to r— Pokemon seem to tru—e in the mounta— but can I trust them? After what happened to my ma— I've hidden the gem. Only I can get to it now. My previous abilities still work. –I fear I must run again. It's… Too la— Someone's coming for— They'll take— for sure… I— mu—' The rest of the thoughts were too jumbled up to understand.

Aamira was sitting on the ground, slightly dizzy, with her hand on her head. 

"What happened?" Quill asked. "Usually when this happens we both end up unconscious." 

Aamira got up and shook her head. "I don't know… It was different this time. The thoughts are usually jumbled up as it is, but this time I could barely understand anything at the end." 

"Well, we'll figure this out later." Quill put his hand to the treasure, which Aamira was still holding, and both of them were instantly teleported out into the stadium. 

Everyone in the stadium cheered. The other pokemon, some with fake treasures, ran towards them.

"Hey, look up there." Charmeleon pointed to a big screen that was over the stadium. "Altaria was using that to keep an eye on all of the competitors. We saw that last room you were in. Looked horrible having to walk on an invisible floor." 

"Did you see anything else?" Aamira asked. 

Charmeleon noticed her eyes. They had turned a pale grey. "No, there weren't any cameras passed that point. No one saw what happened after you got over the invisible floor." 

Altaria, Latias, and Latios flew down in front of Team Sleuth. "Our winning team is Team Sleuth!" The crowd cheered at the rookies' victory. "In second place is Team Sky! Because though they got a treasure first, it wasn't the real treasure. And in third place, is Team Blazer!" The crowd cheered for the two other teams. "Don't forget, for the rest of the night, we'll be holding events for best attack." 

"We got second! I don't believe it!" Roy said excitedly. "And your team got first! You're even cooler than I thought!"

'This is a little embarrassing…' Aamira thought. 'No one's ever looked up to me like this before.' 

"Stop praising them. They didn't deserve it." Sceptile said angrily. "They change the floors you have to get through every year, but the treasure is always hidden! If we had been quicker at finding each other, we would have won! What's more you let Ignis take second place in the tournament!" 

"Whatever, I don't want to hear it." Aamira tied her scarf back around her neck. 

"Where are you going?" Roy asked. 

"I'm going to head to the stadium early for the quick attack competition." 

Roy seemed to freeze up. "But… I was going to enter that." 

"Then I guess we'll be competing against each other." She smirked and ran out the door. 

Later at the competition, Aamira and Roy lost to a Linoon. Lucky for them though, Linoon wasn't in an Investigation Team. So for the Investigation Teams, In third place was one of the Riolu on Lucario's team. In second place was Aamira. And in first place, much to everyone's surprise, was Roy. 

"I… I won…?" He was in such shock. A bunch of pokemon who were watching the event rushed to see Roy. "Woa! Uhh… Aamira? What do I do now?" 

"What ever you want. There's no room for second place unfortunately, so see ya." She smirked again and ran back towards the inn. Outside she ran into Charmeleon. 

"I saw that!" He said. "You let Roy win!" 

"Did I?" Aamira tried to go in, but Charmeleon stopped her. 

"Why did you do it?" 

"A number of reasons. Now Team Sleuth and Sky are tied for first place. Ignis is far behind us and Sceptile can't keep complaining. Team Rio, Lucario's team, got a few points, but they're so far behind that there's no reason to worry about it at the time." 

"So what's the OTHER reason?" Charmeleon asked. 

Aamira sighed. "Before you do something for the first time, aren't you always a little nervous? Keep loosing over and over again and the pain gradually grows. But win just once and you feel invincible."


	21. Chapter 21 Dreams and Torment

"Where am I?" Aamira looked around. Everything around her was infinitely black. She walked around. Her footsteps echoed loudly. "Is this a dream?" 

A bright light appeared in front of her. It was so bright that she had to shield her eyes. The light started to fade and she looked to see what it was. 

"Why do you dare to come here?" The pokemon said. "Why have you returned, human?" 

"Wait, aren't you… Suicune?" 

"Yes." He had the appearance of a blue wolf. His long purple mane rippled like water. The ground (or whatever it was) that he stood on also rippled like water. "What have you done, human?"

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked. "How do you know I'm a human?" 

"Playing dumb will get you nowhere! You've heard the legend and yet you haven't turned back into a human!" He pointed at her scarf. "You're unfitting to wear that scarf! I once protected legendary pokemon along side you, and now because of you I am one! And with it comes all of the pain and suffering!" 

"What? The… The legend…? So it really was me?" 

"Yes! You tried to steal my crystal before! The memory I stored in it has been tampered with! Could you not tell!"

"You mean why I couldn't hear everything? That was your memory?" 

"That's all that's left of me because of you!" Suicune roared. "It's all because of you! And now you still seek to steal the power of legendary pokemon?"

"Suicune, please! Listen! I can't remember anything from before. If I really did do all of that stuff in the legend, then the reason I don't feel guilty is because I don't remember doing any of that. But if I did, I'm sorry. I don't want any power or anything and I would do anything to make it up to you." 

He was quiet for a long time. "The aura distortion… That is also your doing." 

"What? No, it isn't!" 

"Not intentionally. Humans and pokemon were never meant to exist in one world. Because you exist here, the world's aura is being distorted. So I'll give you a choice. Either go to the human world, or disappear." A fog rolled in and Suicune started to disappear. 

"I would go to the human world if I only knew how!" Too late. Suicune was already gone. 

"Aamira!" Quill shouted. 

Aamira shrieked and sat up. She was panting hard. It felt like she had just run a marathon. "It was… Suicune…" 

"Suicune?" Roy said. "Wait, you mean the pokemon of the north wind? From the legend?" 

Aamira nodded. "He said I either have to go to the human world, or… or disappear." 

Quill jumped to his feet. "What? But that's insane! It's not like you can just go home whenever you want! And disappearing is out of the question!" 

"Just be happy that Team Overgrow already left." Mankey said. "You can't tell them about this. Sceptile's been really strange lately. Who knows what he'll do?" 

Aamira shivered at the thought. "Wait, it's today the day of the team vs. team battle?" 

"Yea. We should probably get going." Quill knew that she had intentionally changed the subject, but who wouldn't have? 

Everyone arrived outside the coliseum. Team Overgrow and a few other teams were already there. 

Sceptile turned and saw them and crossed his arms. "Well look who finally showed up." 

"What do you mean by that?" Quill asked. "Oh wait. We couldn't be." He tried to look around the other teams to see who their team was up against. 

"Relax. They never put teams from the same country up against each other in the team vs. team battle. That would completely go against the point of this." 

"Is it just me, or is his talking coarser than when I first saw him?" Roy asked. 

"Aye, that's what happens when he gets upset." Venusaur said. "C'mon! We have to get ready!" 

Sceptile turned to Team Sleuth before leaving. "Good luck today." 

"I think he's finally warming up to us again." Quill said to Aamira after Sceptile left. 

"No he isn't. Just look." Aamira pointed to the bulletin board. It had all the team matchups for who was fighting who. Right next to Team Sleuth was Team Rio. 

"Oh, bad luck for you two!" Roy said. "Even so, you better win this!" 

'He's braver than he was before.' Aamira noticed. 'I guess my plan to let him win that attack tournament paid off. I should probably be careful. I can't afford to hold back next time.' 

"Oh, look at this! We're up against Team Static! They're rookies like us. This shouldn't be a problem." Mankey said with her usual energy. "Well, we're off to prepare for the match." Mankey ran off with Roy close behind. 

"I'm kinda nervous about this…" Quill said. "They're a tough team aren't they? I mean, you remember how his Aura Sphere sliced clean through yours." 

"Yea. How can I forget? Well, we'll just have to out smart him! Isn't that what he's afraid of? It's brawn over brain in his book, so it shouldn't be too hard." 

Quill laughed. "Yea." 

Aamira looked back at the bulletin board. "Wait, weren't there more teams than this? I know there had to be." 

"Yea, there were a few more, but it's a first come first serve sort of thing. After a certain number of teams got to the second floor, the other teams that were left behind were teleported out and automatically lost. It's game over for them, unfortunately." 

"Harsh. I guess we'll just have to stay on our toes."

Later that day, everyone had gathered at the coliseum. 

"Welcome to day two and the second event of the Investigator Trilogy!" Altaria shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. "Today we'll have teams from different countries competing against each other in a team verses team battle!" The crowd cheered. "The rules are simple. There will be two rounds. In the first round, team one will be the challenging team and team two the opposing team. To win, the challenging team has to knock out all of the opposing team members. The opposing team will only have to knock out one of the challenging team members. This is the way it would work in a dungeon battle. In the second round the first team will be opposing team and the second will be the challenging team. Now, for the first match, playing for Sylva, is Team Sky starting out on the challenging team." The crowd cheered as Roy and Mankey walked onto the battle field. "And, playing for Tempestas, Team Static starting out as the opposing team." The crowd cheered again. 

Team static was a small team, like theirs. It had two members: A Pachirisu and a Shinx. Of course, being from Tempestas they were bound to be a lot stronger than they appeared. 

The referee (one of the Swablu) gave the signal to start. 

Mankey jumped into the air. Roy used quick attack on Pachirisu. Mankey used a Karate Chop attack from the sky. Shinx used Spark, but Mankey's Karate Chop sliced straight through it. The crowd cheered. Shinx collapsed and struggled to get back up. 

"Wow, I had no idea Mankey was so strong." Aamira said. 

"That's not it." Quill said. "I think that Roy attacking Pachirisu was just a distraction so Mankey and Shinx would be left facing off against each other. Since they're opposite genders Shinx's ability, rivalry, make his attack lower. If Roy had attacked him, rivalry would have raised his attack."

"I don't believe what I'm seeing!" Altaria said. "Shinx is completely helpless to defend himself and his attack is too low for him to fight back! As much as pachirisu's trying to help her partner, Roy's speed is stopping her in every turn! Ooh! Mankey just took a critical hit, but it doesn't seem to have done much. Except, of course, raising Mankey's attack because of her anger point ability. It seems they're really playing to their strengths and special abilities in this battle." 

Quill laughed. 

"What is it?" Aamira asked. 

"I just remembered the two abilities Riolu have. It's a bit ironic. One of Riolu's abilities is steadfast, which raises its speed whenever it flinches. The other one is inner focus, which prevents it from flinching." 

"Well how does that work?" Aamira asked. 

"Well inner focus doesn't prevent flinching from the attack Focus Punch, but look at how nervous Roy still is. He's flinching at every turn, which is making his speed go way up! Look, Pachirisu can't keep up at all now! I think it's actually his fear that's making him so strong. How weird." 

"Well what would you expect? He got attacked all the time. Since he couldn't fight back, what else could he have done but run?" Aamira smirked. "I wonder if he would have won yesterday in the Quick Attack event even if I hadn't let him." 

Mankey used Seismic Toss on Shinx. He fainted and was no longer able to battle. Mankey and Roy ganged up on Pachirisu. Pachirisu used Discharge. Mankey jumped and avoided the attack. Roy ran circles around Pachirisu and avoided the attack. Pachirisu blew a kiss at Roy. He looked at Pachirisu and blushed. Pachirisu winked at him and used Discharge. Roy, for some reason, kept running into to the attack. 

Quill was blushing slightly. "That… That was Sweet kiss! Roy's confused and can't tell which direction is which. This is bad." 

Mankey tried to use Karate Chop again. Pachirisu was too fast. She used Charm and dodged Mankey. She repeated the attack and dodged Mankey's again. Soon Mankey stopped trying to attack. She was too slow to keep up with Pachirisu. 

Roy recovered from his confusion and realized if they were going to win this, he had to attack. He tried to attack, but got his by a powerful electric attack. Roy fell to the ground. 

"Could it be all over?" Altaria said. The crowd started shouting. 

"Come on, Roy!" Aamira shouted. 

"It looks like Roy's down for the count, which makes Team Static the— wait…" 

Roy struggled and eventually was able to stand up, though badly hurt. Some of the crowd cheered, and some of them booed, but Roy looked more focused than he ever had before.

Pachirisu attacked with Discharge. Roy used Iron Defense to block it. Then Roy used Bullet Punch and knocked out Pachirisu. 

"Yes! That's it! Both Pachirisu and Shinx have been knocked out! That means the winners of the first round are Team Sky!" 

After being healed by the medics, Team Sky won the second round and the team vs. team part of the tournament. Next up was Team Overgrow. To Aamira's astonishment, the team they were going up against was Team Blazer. 

"This isn't good!" Quill said. "If Team Blazer doesn't win this, then Sceptile will…" 

Aamira looked over at Charmeleon. She had never been so worried before. Sceptile and Venusaur were a sight to see. Venusaur's Frenzy Plant and Sceptile's Leaf Storm made for a powerful combination. They seemed to have no strategy, but their powerful attacks were strong enough. Infernape's Close Combat was too fast to see coming though. After she attacked, Sceptile, Typhlosion and Charmeleon used a combination of fire type moves to finish him off and ended the first battle. 

In the second battle, they made a huge comeback. Team Overgrow won by a double knockout, even though they only had to knock out one of their members. Unsurprisingly, the two that were knocked out were Charmeleon and Infernape. They went into a tie breaker round. Both teams had to knock out all of the other team's members. It didn't seem fair though since Team Overgrow had less members and were at a type disadvantage, but Aamira still found herself cheering for Team Blazer, in spite of some stares from the other Investigation Teams who couldn't believe that a Sylvan was cheering on an Ignian. And an Ignian team that was up against a Sylvan team for that matter.

Team Blaze and Team Overgrow attacked each other mercilessly. Their attacked collided. There was an explosion and the two teams were enshrouded in smoke. When the smoke cleared, Typhlosion, Infernape, and Venusaur were all out cold. Charmeleon stood over the half conscious Sceptile. Both were breathing heavily.

Charmeleon said something to Sceptile, but they were too far away to hear. Aamira guessed what he said based on the movements of his mouth. "You know I didn't do it." 

Sceptile responded, "It was in a situation much like this, wasn't it? What are you waiting for?" 

Charmeleon didn't move. "I won't attack someone while they're down." 

Sceptile started up at him, struggling to stay awake, then lost consciousness. The crowd cheered, but Aamira didn't move. How could she after what she had just seen. 

"The winning team is Team Blazer!" Altaria said. "Up next, Team Sleuth starting out on the challenging team. Their opponent, Team Rio, on the opposing team." 

Aamira used Quick Attack on Lucario. The two Riolu on Team Rio ran passed her and attacked Quill.

"Now this is unusual." Altaria said. "It seems that Aamira has left her team member behind to fight Lucario on her own." 

Aamira and Lucario attacked without the help of any special moves. Although Aamira hadn't learned much from Sceptile before he decided he couldn't trust her, she still knew enough to keep up with Lucario. The two used Force Palm repeatedly both as attacks and to block the other's attack.

Quill fired a Swift into the air and knocked the two Riolu away from him. Aamira ran back towards Quill.

"You're not getting away from me that easily!" Lucario chased after her. 

Aamira jumped over Quill, who until now Lucario had taken no notice in. Quill used Flame Wheel, which seemed stronger than usual and hit Lucario with it. The attack was fast, strong, and unavoidable. Lucario, being a steel type, was knocked out instantly. 

"Finally their strategy is revealed." Altaria said. "Using Quill's blaze ability and Lucario's weakness against fire, they were able to finish him off. But now they have two angry Riolu to deal with!" 

The two Riolu attacked, eager to avenge Lucario, but within a few minutes, both of them were defeated as well. 

"Only one more round!" Quill said while they were being healed. 

"You kids think you're so tough." Lucario said. 

Not daring to underestimate them again, Lucario and the two Riolu fought as hard as they were able. Quill tried using his blaze ability again, but it didn't do any good. This time they were expecting it. Lucario dodged it and used Bone Rush to knock out Quill. 

"One down and one to go." Lucario shook his head. "I may have been mistaken to underestimate you two, but you're still too weak to stand up against us. And who would have ever thought? A canine against a rodent? Of course he was no match." 

"What?" Aamira growled at him. 

Lucario laughed. "And you think you can do something about it? You're nothing more than a cute little puppy whose bark is bigger than her bite." 

Aamira used Aura Sphere, although she had been trying not to this whole time so not to draw attention to herself. Lucario didn't even counter it. All he had to do was hit it aside with one of his paws.

"Do I have to remind you what a real Aura Sphere looks like?" Lucario used Aura Sphere. 

This was the last straw for Aamira. She wouldn't let Quill and herself be pushed around like little kids any longer. She used Aura Sphere. It was different from the others though. This one was white and looked a lot stronger. It sliced through Lucario's Aura Sphere and hit him before he had the change to dodge. He yelled and was knocked all the way across the stadium and into the wall. He fell to the ground out cold. 

Aamira, feeling she had over done it, ran over to him with the other two Riolu close behind her.

"W-Well, it seems that the winning team is… Team Sleuth, but…" Altaria shook her head and flew down to where Lucario was. Latias and Latios followed. 

"This doesn't look good." One of the Riolu said. "Master Lucario! Wake up!" 

Lucario twitched a little. He woke up and looked up at Aamira, his eyes burning with hatred. "You'll pay for this!" He collapsed back onto the ground and some medics came up to help him. 

After all the battles were done, Team Sleuth and Team Sky headed back to the inn together. When they got to their room they found Sceptile pacing and looking more frustrated than he had lately. Team Sky went in, but Aamira and Quill stayed outside. They decided to go for a walk and maybe do a few missions since they had some free time. 

"It's not like we can avoid them forever…" Quill said. "What can we do?" 

"I've taken to just ignoring Sceptile, Venusaur didn't seem that upset, but after losing to Team Blazer, I doubt we'll be able to deal with either of them for a while." Aamira sighed. "Maybe I'll sleep on the roof or something. I mean, it's not like I don't feel safe now that Lucario's locked up in the infirmary. Really grouchy about it too, I hear." 

Quill laughed. "Yea, I guess there's not much we can do." He was quiet for a few minutes. "What about that dream?" 

Aamira stopped walking. "I don't really know… It wasn't just a dream, I know that. It was Suicune; I can just tell." 

Quill looked into Aamira's eyes. "You know, your eyes seem to change color whenever we do something legendary pokemon or gem related. And twice you got some new Aura Sphere related ability. Hey, you know, now that I think about it your eyes have never stayed a weird color this long before. Why do you think that is?" 

"Well…" Aamira thought for a minute. "Come to think of it, I never really did try to figure this out. Yea, I wonder why they've been this color for so long. Oh, wait. There was another time. With the Grace-Seed. Remember? My eyes stayed the same color for a while then too." 

"Maybe it has to do with how close you are to the gems. Or the legendary pokemon." 

"That would make sense." Aamira shook her head. "What am I saying? Nothing makes sense!" 

Both of them laughed for a moment. 

"Hey Quill, can I ask you something?" Aamira asked. 

"Technically you just did." 

Aamira smiled and rolled her eyes. "Well it's just… Why are you so cheerful all the time?" 

"I guess it's because you're always cheerful." 

"Am I cheerful now?" 

"Well… No, not really. Huh, well… I don't know why I'm so cheerful. I just am, I guess."

Later the two of them were able to get back into the room without any trouble. They fell asleep quickly so they wouldn't have to listen to Sceptile or Venusaur. 

Aamira was standing in complete darkness. Everything around her was black. She couldn't tell the floor from the ceiling or the sky, or the walls if there were any. She raised a paw. She could see it just fine, but everything else was black. 

A light appeared far away. It was Suicune. The ground he walked on rippled like water under his feet like it had the pervious night. Suicune roared. "You would dare betray us again?"

Aamira jumped. "What?" 

"Don't play dumb, it's not working! You were the one who sealed up all of the temples! The gems in nearly all of the temples are mixed up! This was your doing, was it not? And now, you haven't gone back to the human world!" 

"I don't know what you're talking about! And I would go back to the human world if I knew how!" Aamira yelled at him. 

Suicune roared again and Aamira fell silent. "And why should I believe this? At first I might have believed you somewhat, if it wasn't for this!" Suicune roared again and they appeared in the air over the stadium. Below them was Aamira and Quill fighting against Team Rio. Aamira had used the Aura Sphere with the wind aura that was mixed in it. "You said you didn't want the power of legendary pokemon, so what was that?" 

"I don't know. Can you honestly say that you can control all of your abilities? Me being a Riolu, I shouldn't even be able to use Aura Sphere." 

"But you're not a Riolu, have you forgotten!" Suicune seemed to get angrier the longer their conversation lasted. "You must disappear from this world! If you don't by the end of the tournament, I'll take care of you myself." 

"Wait, can't you tell me more about this? I want to know." Fog rolled in around Aamira and Suicune disappeared.

Aamira woke up suddenly after falling out of her bed. She got up and laid back down. She sighed and tears came to her eyes. 'What am I going to do?'

A few days had passed since the second dream. Team Sleuth was fighting in the next round of the tournament. Infernape came after Aamira with a Fire Punch. She dodged and used Force Palm followed up by Drain punch. Finally after an hour an a half, with out a doubt her longest battle yet, Infernape was defeated. 

"And that's it!" Altaria said over the cheers of the crowd. "The winner is Aamira from Team Sleuth, who has now advanced into the semi finals!" 

"I'm in the semi finals?" Aamira laughed and did a back flip. Like all of the other teams that advance into the semi finals, she was awarded a silver medal. After she had received her medal, Aamira made her way outside of the arena to the bulletin board where a few of the teams were standing. 

"They haven't updated it yet." Quill said when she got there. "We won't know who we're up against in the semi finals for at least a few more minutes." 

Aipom jumped and hugged Aamira so tightly that she couldn't breathe. "YOU BEAT INFERNAPE! YOU BEAT INFERNAPE!" Suddenly she let go and punched Aamira on the arm. "That was supposed to be my job!" 

Charmeleon crossed his arms. "You still wouldn't have been able to since you attacked her before the tournament even started."

"That's true I guess…" Aipom looked around. "I wonder where Team Overgrow is. Ever since they started considering you both traitors, they've been rooting for us. You'd think they would at least be here."

Mankey shrugged. "He probably knew that I would lose to Charmeleon, which I did. No hard feelings though. Oh, Aamira and Quill, since Roy was defeated two days ago that means it's up to your team to win this for Sylva!" 

"It sure does, doesn't it?" Aamira said nervously. "Well maybe if we do win, it will finally get Sceptile off our case…" 

"Venusaur cooled down at least." Quill said. "But all the last entrants look pretty tough. Milotic, who just defeated Ninetales, Plusle, who doesn't look that tough but he's a lot tougher than he looks, Blastois, as honorable as he is he still has a Hydro Pump that can blast through thick steel, and, of course, Charmeleon." 

Charmeleon smirked. "Aww, I'm flattered." 

"But wait, how is it possible for there to be six semi finalists. Wouldn't there need to be two finalists? For that there should only be four semi finalists." Aamira said. 

"Ooh, that's the brutal part." One of the Swablu landed next to them. "If teams aren't eliminated due to cheating or other things, then the two that take the longest to finish their match will be eliminated. So basically it's a timed thing too." 

"That sounds brutal!" Quill said. 

"Yes, it is. Oh, I must be going. Glad to answer you question though." Swablu flew off in a hurry. 

The bulletin board flipped over to be updated. Everyone looked towards it. After a while it flipped back around.

"Let's see…" Quill said. "First match, Milotic versus Plusle. Ooh that should be good. Type advantage against strength." 

Aamira didn't say anything. She stared blankly at the names for the second match. Aamira versus Charmeleon. 

Both of them turned to each other. Everyone else that saw it turned and looked at them also. 

Aamira smirked. "You know, I'm noticing a recurring pattern. I always end up getting what I want. Remember? I said I wanted to go up against you in a fair fight!" 

Charmeleon smirked. "You'll go up against me in a fair fight, and you'll lose to me in a fair fight!"

"Not on you're life, Sparky! I'll be winning this and bringing Sylva to the finals!" 

"You? Win against me? In your dreams, Fluffy!" 

Both of them turned away from each other, still with grins on their faces, and walked away to train before their match the next day. 

Quill sighed. "Wow those two… This shouldn't surprise me by now. And they actually called each other Sparky and Fluffy. I guess it's better than what Lucario's been calling us." 

"Quill, have you even been paying attention?" Mankey said. "Plusle and Milotic. Aamira and Charmeleon. Where does that leave you?" 

"Huh?" Quill turned back to the bulletin board. "Quill versus… versus… Blastois! Oh, why did this have to happen?" 

Mankey and Aipom laughed.


	22. Chapter 22 Winds of Change

The crowd cheered as Milotic and Plusle entered from opposite sides of the coliseum. 

"Welcome everyone to the first match of the semi finals, Milotic versus Plusle!" Altaria said. "These two will fight until the first falls unconscious. At the end, the pokemon that took the longest to knock out his or her opponent will be disqualified." 

"I still think that's a little harsh…" Quill said to Aamira. 

"Yea, but still. If it didn't work that way there would be three finalists and there wouldn't be any way to decide who would win." Aamira said. 

"Yea." Quill looked back and fourth between the two as the battle started. "So who are you rooting for?"

"Neither. Well, I sort of hope Milotic would lose because she causes the most problems, but I also wouldn't mind her winning so that either you, me, or Charmeleon could get the chance to battle her."

Milotic used Aqua Ring and then attacked Plusle with a Twister attack. Plusle was knocked off of his feet right away but stood up again, refusing to get up so early in the battle. Plusle used Spark, but it didn't do much. The little damage it did do was healed by the Aqua Ring.

Quill shivered. "She really is as tough as they all say." 

"I think she's even stronger than when I first saw her at Stony Ridge." Aamira said. 

"Yep, Plusle's a goner…" Aamira and Quill turned around to see Pikachu sitting back in the row behind them absentmindedly watching the battle.

"Why don't you seem concerned about that at all?" Quill said. "Isn't he your friend?"

He stuck his nose in the air. "As if. Plusle and Minun… They both get on my nerves. I don't know how things work in Sylva, but in a REAL country like Tempestas we have to graduate from a rigorous academy. You have to fight your way through and do whatever it takes to get to the top. This tournament… it sort of reminds me of my academy days. If it wasn't for Milotic it would, anyway. She's the only one I probably wouldn't be able to beat, which is why I lost to her. But I digress. After everyone graduates from the academy, the pokemon with the highest scores are made to join Investigation Teams. The one that usually end up the strongest is the special circumstances team. The one with the highest passing score becomes the captain of that team and the one with the lowest is partnered up with them, whether they like it or not, to balance out the strength in the team."

"Wow that doesn't sound anything like how the people from Sylva graduate. Although there is an entrance exam and only two teams are usually formed after each graduation." Quill said. 

"Sounds like Sylva's just trying to find the strongest teams possible." Pikachu shrugged. "I gotta respect that, ya know? And this whole time I thought that Sylva was a wimpy country, like Pacis. Of course I hadn't heard much about Team Overgrow but to lose to Charmeleon they couldn't be that big of a deal." 

"But from the way you're talking I take it you were the head of the class?" Aamira asked. 

"Yep. That I was. The strongest of them all. But what would you expect? I am our country leader's son, after all. But anyway, Plusle and Minun are twins. They did everything the same. They ate the same lunch, made the same friends, got bullied by the same people, used the same attacks, and they even failed the same, which made me end up getting stuck with both of them." He sighed. "If those two were any weaker they could be defeated by a Magikarp, which is saying even more than usual since they would have the type advantage. But look at me; I'm getting so frustrated by this that I'm telling you two all of this stuff."

Plusle used Spark on Milotic again. Milotic seemed to be weakening and Plusle barely seemed tired at all.

"And what's this all about!" Pikachu said angrily. "Milotic mopped the floor with me in one attack and Plusle's winning? I know I'm still stronger. We had a practice session last night like we always do and I defeated both of them as fast as usual." 

"That's weird…." Aamira said. 

Plusle used Spark again and Milotic looked close to fainting. 

Pikachu looked over towards the left entrance of the stadium. He stayed in that position for a while before jumping down to the battle field. 

"The rules say we can't help a teammate." Aamira said. "Won't Pikachu's team get disqualified?" 

Quill sighed and sat back in is seat. "This really should surprise me." 

Milotic and Plusle turned to see Pikachu when they saw him running past. The camera to the screen above the coliseum pointed at him, but he didn't take any notice, even though pretty much everyone's eyes were on him. He stopped in front of a barrel next to the coliseum door. He used Thunder Punch and shattered it. In its place stood a shocked Minun who was right in the middle of a cheer. He lost his balance and fell over. 

"Wasn't that a Helping Hand attack he was using?" Altaria said. 

"Minun!" Pikachu glared at Plusle, who looked around nervously then ran to his other team members. "What were you two thinking! We're a country of violence, not cheating! If we were just going to cheat our way through life, then why bother with all of the training?"

"Your training's too hard!" Minun said. 

"Not even the rules can separate us from being in a battle together!" They both said at the same time. 

Pikachu shook his head and his cheeks sparked. "Why do I even bother with you? You're so wimpy I guess you wouldn't stand much of a chance alone. Oh, just wait until I tell the boss. His blood's going to boil over for sure." 

"We're so sorry, chief!" Both of them said at the same time. 

"Team Spark is disqualified from the tournament, even though they probably would have gotten away with this if it hadn't been for the leader." Altaria said awkwardly. "The winner is Milotic from Team Shimmer." 

The crowd cheered, but not as loud as they usually did. There was a hint of uncertainty and even confusion in the crowd. 

The next two up to battle were Charmeleon and Aamira, who were both determined to defeat Milotic in the finals. The two of them started off strong with and Aura Sphere and a Flamethrower. Aamira dodged around behind Charmeleon and used a Force Palm. 

Charmeleon turned in the air and landed facing Aamira. He used Flamethrower again, but Aamira dodged it. Then he surprised her by coming through the fire and using Metal Claw. Aamira was knocked on the ground. She stayed there for a few seconds to catch her breath, knowing that Charmeleon wouldn't attack anyone while they were down. 

Aamira got up. Charmeleon used Metal Claw again. Aamira used Drain Punch. This time, Charmeleon was knocked on his back, but he was quicker to get up. He jumped in the air. Aamira raised her hand for an Aura Sphere. Charmeleon waited for a few seconds before attacking, but an Aura Sphere never came. He dove and used Metal Claw. Aamira dodged. Charmeleon's claws got stuck in the ground, but he got them out quickly.

"Come on! Not now!" She tried to focus to make an Aura Sphere, but it still wouldn't come. She dodged as Charmeleon used Flamethrower again. Aamira used Force Palm, but Charmeleon dodged and used Metal Claw. 

Aamira got back up. She wasn't making any progress with the attacks she could use. Then she remembered. She had lost her Quick Attack to get another attack and after the Attack Tournament she switched back to using that attack. Charmeleon used Overheat. This would be her only chance. Aamira was hanging on by a thread now. Charmeleon rushed towards her to use a Return. Aamira used Reversal. Both of them got hit by the attacks at the same time. There was a blinding flash that filled the stadium. When the light faded, Charmeleon was just barely conscious and Aamira had collapsed on the ground.

"The winner of the second round in Charmeleon." Altaria said. "Now we will take a short break before starting the last round of the semi finals." 

"I can't believe you lost!" Quill said. "I mean, it's not like I'm being a sore loser or anything, but you hardly ever lose."

"Well Charmeleon has gotten a lot stronger." Aamira said. 

All of them were in the infirmary. Aamira and Charmeleon were getting their injuries treated by a couple of the Swablu. 

"Maybe we over did it a little…" Charmeleon admitted. "You have to admit though, that was a pretty good battle. I doubt I would have won if your Aura Sphere was working." 

Aamira looked down at her paws. "It's not working again. I wonder why." 

She remembered the conversation she had had with Suicune in her dream. 'You said you didn't want the power of legendary pokemon, so what was that?' 

'I don't know. Can you honestly say you can control all of your abilities? Me being a Riolu I shouldn't even be able to use Aura Sphere.' 

'But you're not a Riolu, have you forgotten! You must disappear from this world! If you don't by the end of the tournament, I'll take care of you myself.' 

'Could me not being able to use Aura Sphere have had something to do with Suicune?' Aamira wondered. 

"I have to go." Quill said. "I'm up against Blastois now. There's no way I'll win, but I might as well try my best and see how well I can do. Either way, it looks like it's either going to be up to Charmeleon or Blastois to defeat Milotic." 

"You mean it would be up to me." Charmeleon said. "They never have two team member from the same country compete in the finals, so if that does happen either Blastois or Milotic will be out of the tournament. Most likely Blastois since during Milotic's battle her opponent was caught cheating and disqualified." 

"Either way, you've still got a chance." Aamira said to Quill. "It's not over 'till it's over." 

Quill nodded. "Right. Well I should get down to the field now." 

"You two should just stay up here and rest." Swablu said to Charmeleon and Aamira. 

"Hey, I've got a front row seat and I don't even get to watch my friend compete in the semi finals?" Aamira said. "Come on. It's not like I'll be doing anything strenuous." 

"Well…" Swablu looked at her for a few second. "Well, alright. But just this once. If something happens and you end up here again, I'll lock you in here like I had to do with Lucario." 

"What happened to him anyway?" Charmeleon asked. 

"Oh, he made a full recovery. As soon as he got out of the infirmary he made an appointment to meet with Altaria for some reason. We have no idea what happened after that, but Altaria did seem a little concerned with something." Swablu's eyes widened and she flapped her wings a little. "Oh, oh! There I go running my beak again. I'm sorry. Anyway, if you want to get down there in time, you better go now." 

"I'll be watching from the window." Charmeleon said. 

Quill actually started off lucky. Because of a Flame Wheel, he ended up burning both of Blastois's legs. It was hard for him to move at all after that, so Blastois had to stick with using Hydro Pump, but it was too easy for Quill to dodge as long as he stayed as far away as he could and still be able to attack. 

"He used to be so nervous about everything." Aipom said. She was sitting right next to Aamira along with Mankey and Roy. "Look, his flames are sparking but it looks like it's from excitement rather than nervousness." 

"That fire doesn't look the same as usual." Aamira said. 

Quill opened his mouth to used Ember and instead used Flamethrower. He looked as stunned as anyone else there. Blastois cut through the Flamethrower with a Hydro Pump and Quill dodged out of the way.

"I was wondering when he would learn Flamethrower." Aamira said.

Aamira's heart started pounding. Progress was slow, but Quill was winning. So why was she so nervous? 

Suicune's voice echoed in the back of her mind. 'You must disappear from this world! If you don't by the end of the tournament, I'll take care of you myself.' 

"What's wrong with you?" Aipom asked. 

Aamira hadn't noticed, but she was shaking furiously. "I have to go do something…" Aamira jumped down onto the ground and started walking towards one of the exits. (No one was allowed to walk on the battle field if they weren't the one's competing, but people could walk around the edge if they had to leave.) 

"Wait!" Aipom said. "Didn't you want to watch Quill in the battle?" 

Aamira turned to her for a minute. "Quill doesn't need my help anymore." 

Aamira walked down the side of the mountain into the forest that she had found a while back. That was when she first met Blastois. She sat by the pond and looked down at her reflection. Maybe everything was just a horrible nightmare? She splashed the water on her face but she didn't wake up. 

How could she make herself disappear? Saying the words was easy, but it was so much harder to do it. "I… I just can't." She said to herself after a while. 

A wind blew in from the north and rippled on the water. Aamira looked up at the pond and standing on it was a translucent Suicune. Aamira didn't feel intimidated, or feel anything for that matter. She didn't care what happened now. 

"Do you really care about your friend?" Suicune asked to her surprise. "If you do, I suggest you hurry to Mistral's town hall."

Without bothering to ask any questions Aamira ran off. Since the forest she was in was on the north side of the mountain, it wasn't that big of a trip to Mistral. She got to one of the stone elevators just in time for a strong jet of wind to push it up to Mistral. She saw some pokemon arguing on the steps to town hall. It was Blastois and the Swablu. 

"No! I refuse to compete like this!" Blastois yelled at them. 

"But you still technically won." One of the Swablu said. 

"It doesn't matter!" Blastois stomped his foot in the ground and made the Swablu flutter a few inches into the air. "That battle was taking way too long as it was. I would have been disqualified anyway!" 

"What's going on?" Aamira asked. 

"Aamira?" Blastois turned to her. "But I thought… Aipom said that you left for some reason." 

"Never mind! Where's Quill?" 

"How do you know about… Never mind, he's in here." Blastois led the way into town hall. In the back was Altaria standing in a circle along with Latias, Latios, Aipom, Mankey, Charmeleon, Roy, Ninetales, Flareon, Rapidash, and even Sceptile and Venusaur. 

"I can't figure it out." Ninetales was leaning over a book. "Nothing in my great, great grandmother's diary says how to cure it, even though it does come up a few times." 

"What happened?" Aamira said. 

"Quill and I were battling." Blastois said. "He was about to finish me off with a Flame Wheel when he just collapsed for some reason." 

Some of the pokemon got out of the way so that Aamira could see Quill. His face was red and he looked like he was in pain and had a high fever. 

"This is what happened to his brother." Aipom said. "Quill's little brother suddenly got really sick when they were traveling together for some reason and Quill ran to try to find the nearest place with a doctor. The got to Vine City, but Chansey couldn't figure out how to cure him."

Ninetales flipped the page in her book. "Apparently this disease can remain unnoticed for years. He must have gotten it from his brother and it was lying dormant inside him ever since."

"Suicune!" Aamira shouted suddenly, making everyone jump. "Is this supposed to be a test? If there's no way to cure him, why'd you tell me to come here?" 

Suicune appeared in the pool of light that was at the back of town hall. Only this time Aamira wasn't asleep and Suicune wasn't just a transparent figure. It was the real Suicune. "The reason he can feel your emotions… Your aura is the same. His life energy is what gave him an immunity to the disease. When I tried to use your aura to make myself more than just a memory, it somehow effected Quill and the disease became unstable." 

"So this is your fault!" Aamira snapped at him. 

"Don't get hasty now. I had no idea this would happen. The fact remains that your aura is the same. You can save him, if you really wanted to." 

Without saying another word, Aamira held her hand out in front of her. Some weird instinct was telling her what she had to do. An Aura Sphere appeared in front of it, thought it looked different than the others. This aura was gold in color. Aamira didn't know where the color was coming from, but she didn't care. Quill started glowing a hideous purplish color. The purple started fading and soon turned silver. Aamira couldn't keep going. The Aura Sphere faded and she fell to her knees, shivering out of exhaustion. She felt sick to her stomach. 

Aamira didn't even remember fainting. The first thing she remembered was waking up in the infirmary. Quill was standing next to her and looked really worried. 

"Oh finally! We were all so worried!" he said. 

"Huh?" Aamira sat up. "But weren't you the one that was dying?" 

"I was. I couldn't believe how much danger I had been in. Aipom said that you saved me somehow. And I froze up when I saw Suicune standing there." 

"Oh yea, what happened to Suicune?" 

"He apologized over and over again for accidentally making me so sick. Apparently since the memory in the Wind Gem was tampered with, Suicune couldn't remember exactly how he had been defeated before. He thought it was because of you so he tried using your aura to come back to life, but he ended up affecting my aura too. Apparently when he saw you trying to save me he remembered something and he asked if he could stay in town hall for a while because there was something he had to do. He ran off after that though. He said there was something he had to check first."

"Forget what I said before about nothing ever makes any sense, if things made less sense than they do now, we would all have to be in a Picasso." 

"I… don't know what that means." Quill said. 

"Hey!" Mankey had been standing over next to the window with Aipom, but Aamira hadn't noticed until then. "Quiet down, will you? We're trying to watch!" 

"Watch what?" Aamira stood up and swayed on her feet and walked clumsily over to the window. From the window was a perfect view of the battle field in the coliseum. Charmeleon and Milotic were battling and neither side seemed to get tired. It seemed that the match must have started almost minutes ago. "I thought the finals match was tomorrow."

"Today is tomorrow!" Aipom said excitedly. "And now the finals are today!" 

"I slept for a whole day!" Aamira said in shock. 

"Sure did." Quill said. "Oh, guess what. All the country leaders came out today to watch. I'll tell you, that Charizard gave me chills. He doesn't seem as cheerful as when we first met him. Surprisingly Aequor's leader, Slowking, looked really nice." 

They watched the battle for a while. It seemed obvious after a while to everyone there that Milotic was going to win. This did nothing to lift their moods. Milotic started to get cocky and the tide of the battle turned in Charmeleon's favor. Charmeleon used Metal Claw and knocked Milotic over, but because of her body being like a snake's, she couldn't really be knocked over. Milotic attacked with Twister, but Charmeleon countered with Overheat and then used Return to finish the battle. 

Everyone cheered including the people up in the infirmary. At least the tournament had ended with a normal battle, though no one had ever expected the outlaw to win. They all expected Sceptile to be steaming mad over this. And they were right. Later Charmeleon had tried to come up to the infirmary and he and Sceptile had started arguing right outside.

"Will you two stop it?" The Swablu nurse said. "This is a hospital and you're creating far too much of a ruckus!" 

Aamira nervously walked out of the room. 

"Well hey if it isn't 'second only to me' Aamira." Charmeleon said happily with a big golden trophy in his hands. "I thought you might like to see this. This trophy has the name of every pokemon that's ever won the tournament written on it." 

"Show off as much as you want." Sceptile said. "It was just rotten luck that you won this time!"

"I don't think so." Aamira said. "Lucario was right about one thing. When we first met, he said I shouldn't let my anger get the best of me. Ever since you've been so mad with Charmeleon and I, you've been off your game. Haven't you noticed?" 

"You could have, and probably would have, won if it hadn't been for that." Aipom said. 

"Really think that's it? I wouldn't be surprised if he cheated." Sceptile said angrily. 

"He's not going to listen to reason." Mankey said. "I should know. I can never be reasoned with whenever I get like this, but anger like this is normal for Mankey." 

"Just listen, will you?" Aamira said. "As much as I'd like this whole argument to be resolved, I can honestly say that it doesn't seem like either of you is lying about what happened with Meganium."

"That's because Sceptile didn't know everything that happened." Venusaur ran up behind Sceptile and was panting heavily trying to catch his breath. "I finally remembered, though I'm not sure why. Meganium ran off to get help from some water type pokemon to put out the fire. That's when we ran into Charmeleon. He'd always been a rival of ours but it seemed like this time he had gone too far. We thought for sure that he started the fire, so we attacked him first, even though he had tried to reason with us. 

"Sceptile was knocked out and I was close to fainting. I just remembered what happened next. Charmeleon ran in the other direction and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, Sceptile was talking to 'Charmeleon' although there wasn't anyone there. I thought he must have been going crazy for some reason, but then I looked again in the direction that Sceptile was looking and I saw a pokemon standing in the distance. I couldn't tell what it was though; all I could see was its shadow." 

"That's pretty believable." It astounded everyone that Sceptile didn't even believe his own teammate. 

"But that's like what I saw." Charmeleon said. 

"I don't remember you mentioning a shadow!" Aamira said to him. 

"Yea, me neither." Quill said. "I have the feeling you told us both the same story, but have you been holding out on us?" 

"It was too unbelievable." Charmeleon said. "Neither of you would have believed me. It would have sounded like some horrible last minute excuse."

"So tell us the rest of the story." Aamira said. 

"In the story, I said that after I had gotten the fire out by using a backfire, I went to deliver a message to Noctowl. That's not entirely true. I was putting out the fire, like I said. Even with the flames roaring around me, it seemed to quiet. There was this feeling of impending doom that I couldn't shake off and this feeling that I was being watched. I tried to shake it off, but it was just too much. Then I started seeing things. At least that's what I thought it was. There was a shadow moving behind the trees and I just kept getting freaked out every time I saw it. That's when I realized it couldn't have been my imagination. I've spent my whole life around fire, so why would I suddenly get all of these feelings? 

"I started looking around for the shadow ready to fight if I had to. I had the feeling it wasn't there by accident. Then it appeared between two trees that hadn't yet caught fire. I readied a Metal Claw and an arrow came flying towards me and hit my hand. It went straight through my hand and got caught in the tree behind me. I got dizzy for some reason and fainted. When I woke up, the fire was out and the arrow that had my hand pinned to the tree was gone. The wound in my hand was bandaged up, but no one was around. Then I spotted my bag and remembered that I had to find Noctowl. So without another thought about what had just happened, I ran off for Silva." 

"So THAT'S what happened." A Charizard who had been hiding behind a corner came towards them. "I had a feeling you were hiding something from me. That's why I never trusted you after that." 

Sceptile could tell that Charmeleon was telling the truth and everyone else could tell that Sceptile thought that, but he wasn't about to admit it. "You're right. That does sound like a last minute excuse. How do we know you're telling the truth?" 

"Because the same thing happened to us." Quill turned to Aamira. "You remember, right?"

"How could I forget?" Aamira looked at the bone on her hand. One section of it was lighter in color than the rest because of where she had been hit by the arrow. "We all agreed not to mention anything that had happened until we figured out what was going on. We even took that part out of the end of the play we were in after getting back the stolen ruby."

"So it is true…" Sceptile turned to Charmeleon. He looked horribly guilty. "I… I guess you didn't do it… I'm sorry…" Sceptile seemed to struggle with every word. He raised his hand and Charmeleon shook it. 

"Well, I'm glad we can finally put that behind us. Consider Sylva and Ignis friends from now on" Charizard said. "Oh, I'd almost forgotten why I came here. Suicune opened a hidden temple in the back to town hall in Mistral. For some reason he wanted to see the two of you, Quill and Aamira." 

"Oh. We almost forgot about that legend." Sceptile had gone back to his usual quiet self. He seemed to be pondering something, but didn't say anything about it. 

"Well, let's go." Aamira said nervously. 

Town hall turned out to be the temple's entrance itself. The light that had shone beneath Altaria's perch now filled the whole room and a soft wind came through from the north. It was warm and pleasant there. It felt that it was so calm that time itself had slowed down. 

"Through here." Suicune led the way down a flight of stairs where the pool of light used to be. At the bottom of the stairs was a long hallway lit by a mysterious light. There were pictures and an ancient text written all over the walls. On the right was a story apparently about Ho-oh and Lugia. On the left was the legend that Aamira had apparently come from. Noctowl was down there reading the legend while he had been waiting for them.

"The story seems to go on past what I read in that old story book." He said as though no one else was there. 

"Yes." Suicune said. "Unfortunately, there are still gaps in my memory and I wasn't able to remember the entire legend. It would also seem that the part after what I could remember had faded from history."

"The last part I heard was that the human that got turned into a pokemon would have to wander in the pokemon world forever as a pokemon if they didn't feel sorry for what they had done even after they heard the legend." Aamira said to Suicune. 

"And that gives us one of two possibilities." Suicune said to Aamira. "Either when you've heard the entire legend, you'll turn back, or you won't be the one from the legend at all." He led the way down the hall with Noctowl and Charizard close by. "I think it was somewhere around here that the last part of the legend that you heard was written, although strangely enough I can't remember how to read this language." 

"Luckily we both can." Charizard walked up to the wall and started skimming over the language that no one else but him and Noctowl could read. 

"This is written in Unown Runes, isn't it?" Aamira asked. "But I have no idea what language this is."

"Found it." Charizard said. "Noctowl, perhaps you would want to read it? After all, you did say it was just because of this legend that you sent them here in the first place." 

"Of course." Noctowl walked up to the script and started reading aloud. "'This story will become a legend and if you feel the guilt for the things you've done even without remembering what you've done, you will be turned back into a human and be reborn in the human world. If you feel no guilt even after you hear the story, you'll remain a pokemon forced to wonder why you were like this.

"'However, Suicune, Raikou, and Entei didn't think this course of action was the right one. They feared for Ho-oh's safety and for the safety of all other legendary pokemon. The three of them made a promise that if ever any of them found the human, they would make sure that she disappeared from the pokemon world one way or another, even if it wasn't what Ho-oh wanted. Ho-oh warned them time and time again not to pursue the human, but they refused to listen. 

"'The three pokemon ran, this time, not to hide from their own shame, but to fix their mistake. They looked for the human wherever they went and one day, she was found. Outnumbered by the unbelievably powerful legendary pokemon, the human fled, unable to understand why the three of them had chased her. She could not remember what she had done to the three of them, although at that time something stirred in her heart. Upon witnessing the power of the three legendary pokemon a sudden lust for power had come to her. Once again, she pursued the power of the legendary pokemon and now upon transforming into a pokemon was sure that she could get it. 

"'Upon learning what the three pokemon had caused, Ho-oh decided that that the three of them must be punished so that they could never try anything so foolish again. They were each given a crystal and their power sealed inside it. Like Ho-oh and Lugia, they now had to protect the power that came with being a legendary pokemon. Their unexpected gift had become their curse and now all the human had to do was steal the power from all three crystals to be able to take Ho-oh's. 

The end of the story had gone on around a corner, although it seemed close to ending, since there was a door at the end of that hall. "'Lugia found out what Ho-oh had done and pleaded with her to do something, knowing that it had also put herself in danger. Lugia was worried about Ho-oh, but also about what her power could do in the hands of a human. Ho-oh hated to agree with him, but something had to be done before it got out of hand. The two of them found a pokemon named…' The text is to faded here to read unfortunately… Well, they found a pokemon, let's just go with that. 'This pokemon agreed to help them. When they found the human, the third pokemon trapped her in a long forgotten dimension. The pokemon there were cruel and powerful. They were all certain that the human would have no chance of stealing the power of any of the pokemon that lived there. 

"'Soon after the human was banished from their world, Ho-oh and Lugia began to realize it had started to become more peaceful. Upon further study, they found that the darkness in the human's heart was enough to throw the world's aura out of balance. The world was as close to being at peace as it could ever be, although there were still wars and even minor disputes. The human was never heard from again and the threat to the world vanished with it.'" That's all there is. 

"So that human disappeared long ago." Suicune said. "Just as I thought. And judged by the way this text is faded, I'd say that the human from the legend is long dead by now anyway. Another thing. I visited the temple in Glacies. It was sealed, for sure, but then recently unsealed. Regice told me it was you that unsealed it, although he hadn't the slightest idea why it was sealed in the first place." 

"So… So that means that…" Aamira was so choked up that she couldn't even finish the sentence.

"Yes." Suicune turned to her. "You aren't the human from the legend." 

Aamira finally let out her long held breath. Her knees, which had been shaking terribly, finally gave out and she had to sit on the floor. 

"I knew it! I knew it!" Quill was so happy that he started jumping all over the place. But then after a while he stopped. "So what's with the mixed feelings, huh? What's up?" 

"If I'm not the human from the legend, then who am I? And how and why did I turn into a pokemon?"

"We might never really know." Quill admitted. "But we do know one human that you're not!"

Aamira smiled, as much as she tried not to, and started laughing. Quill's happiness was just a little too much for her. 

"There's something else I'd like you to see." Suicune said. "The main part of the temple." 

He faced the door that was where the legend had ended. He howled and the door started glowing. After he stopped the door slid opened as if it had been grabbed by an invisible hand. Inside was a small pedestal that the Wind Gem was sitting on. Behind the pedestal was a statue of Ho-oh surrounded by Suicune and his brothers. On the left was Raikou, in the middle Suicune, and at the right was Entei. 

"It's not much to see compared to some other temples." Suicune admitted. "I'm always on the move, so I only need a place to stop and rest. But while I'm resting, I have some time to work on my art." He gestured over to the wall on the left, which was covered in pictures of Riolu. "I tried to remember every famous Riolu and Lucario I had ever met. On the left is the Riolu, and on the right the Lucario. 

Aamira walked over to one of the pictures. She took her scarf off and held it up to one of the painted scarves on a Riolu's neck. They were the same color and the symbol on both was the same.

"Those scarves are marks of heroes or true masters. I wish I could help you, I really do, but I'm still having some blank spots in my memory. I haven't the slightest idea what these Riolu and Lucario were special for." Suicune tried to force a smile. 

Charizard started moving around uncomfortably. "There's an earthquake coming." 

"What?" No one understood how he could know that, but if they were inside a mountain, that definitely wasn't a good thing. 

"Everyone out now!" Suicune ordered. 

Everyone ran for it. Outside they were knocked down by a vicious earthquake. Latias and Latios were circling above in a strange way. They seemed scared of something. Finally it stopped. 

Suicune got up and ran back into town hall. Within a few seconds he ran back. "There was a cave in. The temple itself might still be in tact but for now there's no way to get back in." 

"Wait, how is this even possible?" Quill said. "Isn't Mistral floating in the air?" 

"The air pushing it up from the ground must have become more violent than usual." Suicune looked up at Latias and Latios. "You two felt it. Didn't you?" 

Latias and Latios came down and hovered above the ground. 

"I've never felt something like that before." Latios said. "It's as if the plateau itself is angry for something." 

"Oh no!" Aamira was looking around on the ground for something. "Where is it?" 

"Where's what?" Quill asked. 

"My scarf! I took it off to compare it to one of the paintings in the temple. That quake, or whatever it was, must have knocked it out of my hand. It's so windy here that it must have been carried away without any of us noticing." 

"I'm not sure if you can do anything about it then." Suicune said. "The winds from Mistral spread out all over the plateau and then into the valleys in between the mountains. Of course, it is possible that you dropped it inside, but like I said, I can't get back in until I clear that rock fall."

"You… might not need it." Sceptile walked up behind them. "Noctowl, should I?" 

"After all that's happened here, I think you should." Noctowl said. 

"What?" Aamira wasn't in the mood for anymore surprises. 

Sceptile was quiet for a long time, obviously trying to find the right words. "A little farther from here is a cave… It's really a…" He shook his head. "Do you want to go home to the human world?"


	23. Chapter 23 Visitors

"I can't believe you never told me about this before." Aamira was more excited than she was mad at Sceptile for keeping this a secret. 

"We would have." Noctowl said. "But there were a few things we couldn't figure out. Most importantly why you were here. We had no way of knowing for sure at the beginning if you really had lost your memory. But then after you brought up previously being a human, we thought for sure it had something to do with Divum's legend. We were wrong, obviously, but when we first met, we could tell you weren't the bad sort. If indeed you did feel guilty for what you had done, you would have turned back into a human. But until Suicune said that you weren't a human, we had no reason to tell you about this." 

"I understand." Aamira said. "But that doesn't matter now, does it?" 

"I still haven't come to terms with you being a human." Aipom said. "I know we found out a while ago, but I'm still not used to the idea." 

"Didn't you have to leave?" Sceptile asked Noctowl. 

"True." Noctowl said. "I can't miss this though. I've got a strange feeling about this. The pokemon that are coming to visit us can wait."

"This is it." Sceptile stopped everyone in front of a large cave that was boarded up. "A few years ago, Venusaur and I stumbled onto this. We went through the cave and when we came out the other side, and found ourselves in the human world. We left quickly before anyone could see us. It sure was strange though. Never seen anything like it. Things flying in the air, wires suspended from poles, strange creatures a bit like pokemon but who couldn't understand our language or even use attacks." 

"He gets really excited and can't stop talking whenever this cave is brought up in a conversation." Venusaur explained.

Venusaur and Sceptile removed some of the boards so they could get through. Everyone went into the mouth of the cave, but no one wanted to go further than that. 

"So why can't humans come through here?" Aamira asked. 

"Well obviously they can." Mankey said. "I wonder if all humans that come through here get turned into a pokemon." 

"I wouldn't see why they would though." Sceptile said. "Upon entering the human world, we remained as pokemon. We're not exactly sure why humans don't go through it though. Some humans that were camping out in the woods came by the cave, but it seemed that they didn't even see the cave. Instead they were talking about how to climb up the mountain that the cave was built into." 

"That's weird." Aamira said. "So… all I do is walk though here?" 

"That's right." Venusaur said. 

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" Quill sounded desperate. "Don't you think people would this it's strange if a Riolu just suddenly showed up? And if you have amnesia, you won't know where to go. At least here you have a home to come back to, but you don't know anything about where you lived as a human." 

"If I came through the cave once before, then I probably lived close by." Aamira said. "I'll probably have family and friends there too. They'll believe me when I tell them it's me."

"I guess that's true, but how can you be sure?" Quill asked. 

"I'm not." Aamira admitted. "I'll tell you what. I'll go through and if I can't find anyone I knew before, I'll come back. I don't think there's much of a choice otherwise." 

"I… I guess I can't reason with you to make you stay here…" Quill said glumly with tears starting to well up in his eyes. 

Aamira ran into the cave. The feeling that she was finally going home was indescribable. That feeling was enough to even cheer Quill up. Aamira wasn't even hesitating. She admittedly felt a little guilty for wanting to leave them all behind, but she belonged in the human world. There was a flash of blue light from some where. She was blown off her feet and thrown back, landing on the floor of the cave in front of everyone else. 

"What just happened?" Quill asked. 

"That's different." Sceptile walked through the cave and looked around, but couldn't see anything. "There's nothing here." 

Aamira ran through the cave like she had before and stopped at the place she thought was just before that flash. She reached out her hand and touched something that wasn't there. A blue wall of light appeared where here hand was. As hard as she pushed on it, she couldn't go through it.

Sceptile looked at the walls, the ceiling, and the floor of the cave where the wall of light was, but still couldn't see where it was coming from. "I think this might be the border between the human and pokemon world. But why can't you get through?" He walked towards it himself, expecting to run into it, but he didn't; he passed right through it. "How strange." 

Aamira started pushing harder on the wall then she had already been doing. "It wouldn't surprise me if somewhere there was a person laughing about this…" Aamira used Force Palm on the wall of light and was thrown back towards the cave entrance again. "Okay, that time was a little painful…" 

The wall had disappeared again. 

"Looks like that wall only appears when Aamira's trying to get through." Venusaur said. 

Aamira got back on her feet. "I really don't want to try that again…" 

"So you're stuck here?" Quill tried to hide his happiness, but he didn't really feel any disappointment coming from Aamira. 

"You know, you're right." Aamira said. "I have no idea what my life was like before. I could have been homeless. I could have been an orphan. Maybe a combination of the two or something worse. Nothing's certain about how I used to be as a human. Maybe the reason I can't get through was because I was a human but I can't remember being one." 

"You took that better than I expected." Mankey said. Everyone else silently agreed. 

A day later they all arrived back in Vine City. (Noctowl had flown ahead.) In the main square was a large group of pokemon all yelling and talking excitedly. 

"Please! Make room!" They recognized the voice as Alakazam's, though they couldn't see him over the rest of the pokemon.

The crowd of pokemon backed away and Noctowl, leading another pokemon that Aamira hadn't seen before, headed off towards town square. 

"Oh! Teams Sleuth, Sky, and Overgrow." Espeon came towards them, obviously trying to sound more professional than she usually did. "I'm glad I've found all of you together like this. Noctowl asked me to tell you to head over to town hall as soon as you possibly can." 

"Why couldn't he have just told us that yesterday?" Aipom said, obviously a little aggravated and fatigued from the long trip back.

"I suspect he wanted it to be a surprise." Venusaur said.

"Aye." Sceptile nodded in agreement and led the way there. He definitely was acting the way he had used to, though he still seemed to be brooding over something. 

Inside town hall they found Noctowl talking and laughing with the other pokemon that had been in town square. It was purplish in color, had what looked like rubies around its neck, a zigzag mouth, strange yellow and red eyes, a hat-shaped head, and seemed to be just a little taller than Aamira, though it was hard to tell since it was levitating a little off of the ground.

"I still don't understand it, myself. A Caterpie defeat a giant Steelix?" Her voice was scratchy and somewhat eerie sounding. "I guess it proves that big things come in small packages." 

The two of them laughed again. 

"I do find that story of yours rather unbelievable." Noctowl said, still trying to keep a straight face. "And what a surprise, you coming to visit us like this. Of course I had gotten your message, but usually your friend gets here sooner than you." 

The other pokemon looked a bit stunned. "Well you see, on the way here we ran into a bit of trouble. Nothing we couldn't handle, I assure you. But an unusual looking Investigation Team saw us and apparently recognized who we are. They insisted on escorting us, but I feared we would be late as it was. Since he's faster, he offered to stay behind and let them escort him. Oh they looked delighted, I'll tell you. Didn't even want a reward for it."

"That's unusual." Noctowl said. 

"Yes. But he does seem to be falling a bit behind schedule." She turned towards the three teams as if suspecting her friend to be there. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I had no idea that any of you had come in." She bowed to them, which looked a little weird for a pokemon that was floating in the air. "I am Mismagius." She turned back to Noctowl. "So which team is it, then?" 

"All three of them." He said. 

"What!" Mismagius seemed horror stricken. "The more help the better, but you would really want to give up your three best teams?" 

"The circumstances call for it." Noctowl said simply. 

"Wait, what did you mean by 'give up' his best teams?" Aipom asked. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I really should explain." Mismagius said to them. "You've heard of the Special Services Delibird, right? They deliver all the important messages. Everyone knows this. But what a lot of pokemon don't know is that Special Services in an organization. It's made up with all the elites. Elite messengers, crafters, technicians, tacticians, investigators and so forth. Of course we all go by the same rule; don't be biased towards any one pokemon or group of pokemon. Hear both sides and then decide how to act. That's how it's built and that's how it runs." 

"So you're saying the elites join?" Quill asked excitedly. 

"That's right." Mismagius said. "Every now and then my partner and I go looking for new recruits from different countries. Usually only one or sometimes two teams are chosen, and never their best team. Which is why I'm still wondering," she turned back to Noctowl, "why would you decide to send your three best teams?" 

"I had another visitor come last night." Noctowl said. "I had the feeling that I should be waiting for someone. Sure enough, Weavile appeared out of nowhere." 

"Weavile!" Aamira nearly shouted. 

"Yes. He just said simply that the world was becoming a less friendly place. I thought that maybe he was back to his ridiculous philosophies. He turned to leave just like that, but I called after him, not sure what I wanted to say to him, but then he turned back to me and said, 'Want to know the secret to peace? You're going to need the help of all of your top Investigation Teams.' I didn't know what to think. I'm still not. But one thing's for sure; all we can ever be sure about is that everything will change." 

"I'm not sure I understand your logic here. It sounds more like he was telling you to keep your best teams here so they could help you." Mismagius said to him. 

"That's what I thought too, but Weavile's always been mysterious. I thought about it and after a while I came to the conclusion that when he said 'your' top Investigation Teams, he meant the Investigation Teams of every country. That's when I though he must have meant Special Services."

Mismagius nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, yes. I see now. You know, every now and then some strange things will turn up outside our HQ. We figured it was their doing, seeing how it's usually Aura Glasses we find. We give them back to their owners, and wouldn't you know it, they're stolen again three days later. Yes, those Collectors are strange ones…" 

There was a yell and a tremor that even shook town hall. 

"Oi! What was that!" Venusaur said. 

"Oh, that's would be my… friend." Mismagius sighed and shook her head. "He really is a nice person but he has this horrible temper. It scares me to even imagine having him as an enemy."

Mismagius floated over them and headed towards town square. Everyone followed. In town square was a fierce looking pokemon standing over a Crawdaunt and Croconaw who were both cringing and laying on their backs in pain. 

"Your friend is Lucario!" Aamira said in surprise. 

Lucario looked over in her direction. A chill ran up Aamira's spine. 'Something tells me that's not the same Lucario…' 

Lucario turned his attention back to the two on the ground. "You imbeciles! You really thought you could get away with it? From what I know, this country has a bounty on you! You're no Investigation Team! And you thought you could get away with stealing my treasure!"

"W-we're sorry!" Crawdaunt said in a whimpering voice. 

"No you're not!" Lucario said. "But you will be…" 

"Lucario, please!" Mismagius said. "What's done is done! If they really do have a bounty on them, then let the police take care of this." 

Lucario sighed and calmed down. "You're right… I have to keep better control over my emotions…" 

"So who are these clowns anyway?" Aamira asked. 

"You couldn't have forgotten already!" Quill said. "It's Team Rapids!" 

"Team Rapids?" Aamira looked at the two of them, still cringing in pain on the ground. "Nope, doesn't ring a… Oh! Croconaw punched me in my stomach that one day!" 

"Now you remember!" Crawdaunt got up painfully. "But who needs the acknowledgement of you losers? Still playing Investigators though, are you?" 

"Yea, and you couldn't even stand up to me!" Croconaw said to Aamira. "If anything you were just as easy, if not easier, to push around and your little Cyndaquil buddy!" 

"Well if you think you can do it again, be my guest." Aamira said calmly. "You're no big deal, though. After all the pokemon we've defeated, I don't think you're much of a problem."

"You sound a lot more smug then when we first met you." Crawdaunt said. "Of course you were still really smug and bigheaded then." 

"Who, me?" Aamira said calmly. "Do what you want, I don't care. I just don't think you're a big deal." 

"Come on, let's just go." Quill turned to leave and Aamira followed. 

"Why you…?" They could hear Crawdaunt, but they just kept walking. "How DARE you turn your back on us!"

There was what sounded like an explosion along with screams from Crawdaunt, Croconaw, and a few of the townspeople. Aamira and Quill turned around and saw a lot of the ground where Crawdaunt and Croconaw were standing was upturned and a little farther away the two of them were laying unconscious on the ground. 

"Pathetic. Stooping to attacking while someone's back is turned." Standing a few yards back was Lucario, standing in a position similar to the one Aamira's in after she uses Aura Sphere. Lucario turned and walked away without saying anything else. 

Quill shivered. "He's kinda scary, isn't he? Aamira?" He turned to Aamira. She was standing there wide eyed with her mouth half open. Now she knew what a real Aura Sphere could do. 

Quill woke up in the middle of the night from the sound of screaming somewhere else in the Treehouse. He ran out of his rooms, making a trail of coals from his bed as he went, and found Machop, Nuzleaf, and Haunter all in the hallway as well. 

"Is that Aamira?" Quill asked. 

"We're all here, so who else would it be?" Nuzleaf asked. 

"Why don't you try Dream Eater and try to see what's going on?" Machop asked Haunter. 

"That gives people nightmares!" Nuzleaf growled at Machop. 

"It does not!" Machop said to Nuzleaf. 

"Maybe we should just try waking her up?" Quill pulled on the door knob, but it was locked. 

"I'll wake her up." Haunter floated through the door. "Better than listening to this yelling and arguing."

A few minutes later there was the sound of a shriek followed by what sounded like Aamira falling out of her hammock and onto the floor. After a few seconds she unlocked the door and walked out. She looked as if she had run two marathons in a row and as if she had been crying. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Quill asked. "It sounded like you were having a pretty bad nightmare."

"Yea… I think so…" Aamira still sounded pretty upset. "I can't remember what it was about." She looked over at Haunter. "Did you give me a nightmare with Dream Eater?" 

Nuzleaf crossed his arm and turned to Machop. "Told you!" 

"It wasn't Haunter who did it. He was with us the whole time until now." Quill said. 

Aamira put a hand on her head and leaned against the wall. "I think I'll go walk this off." 

"Hey, that's what I used to do all the time." Quill said. "Try going down to Shroud Lake. That usually clears my head when something's bothering me." 

Aamira nodded and headed out. The night air was cool and woke her up immediately. She hadn't thought of it before, but she had never seen what Shroud Lake looked like at night. Suddenly excited and heart pounding, Aamira broke into a run. 

She stopped suddenly when she heard voices up ahead and instinctively hid in a bush. Up ahead was Lucario and Mismagius who seemed to be arguing. 

"It has to be here! Something's here, I know it!" Mismagius said angrily. 

"I've swept this place at least a thousand times. There's nothing." The aura sensors on the back of his head rose up. Aamira flinched. He would notice her for sure. "There's nothing here, I'm sure of it." 

Mismagius paced back and fourth. "Then where could it be coming from? It's in this city somewhere." 

"We've been looking for years. We can't keep it up forever." 

Mismagius turned back to Lucario. "No, you're right. There are more urgent matters. Any word yet of the missing pokemon?"

"No. Like all others they seem just to have vanished. The number is increasing daily. I'm growing worried…" Lucario didn't look nervous though. He seemed to be completely bored as if he wished everything would just blow over.

Mismagius nodded. "As am I… Very well, it's agreed that we should bring this up with Noctowl tomorrow. We need as much help as possible to get the missing pokemon back." Mismagius turned to leave. "I have some things I need to do tonight." She went off without another word. 

Lucario bent down and touched the water in the lake. The water rippled out in all directions, but it didn't seem like anything else had happened. Then he stood up. Aamira squinted her eyes to see what he was doing. Then, so fast that she would have missed it if she had blinked, Lucario spun around and hit her with an Aura Sphere so strong and fast that it was impossible to avoid and it knocked her out of the bush. 

"Oh, it was just you." He said. 

"Just me? What do you mean by that?" Aamira said angrily. 

"I thought you might have been a threat. You don't see aura like yours every day." 

"Yea, I've heard that before." Aamira cringed as she tried to get up and was still shaking from the strength of that attack. Feeling that she wouldn't be able to stay standing the way she was shaking, she sat back down on the ground. 

"What are you doing here?" Lucario asked as if she had just walked into his house without knocking.

"What, am I suddenly not allowed to go for a walk in the middle of the night?" Aamira was feeling a little frustrated after what had just happened, but she was trying to control her temper. Lucario, admittedly, scared her. 

"Well, go home. Do whatever you want, just don't stay here." Lucario turned to walk back towards the lake, but Aamira, her strength returning all at once, stood up and shouted after him.

"And what right do you have telling me what to do? I can stay here as long as I want. And what was all of that about missing pokemon? And Noctowl doesn't even know?" 

Lucario turned to her again. Without knowing what had happened to her, Aamira had been picked up by her neck and held against a tree by Lucario. "And don't you dare tell anyone about what you saw! Mismagius has a bigger temper than mine if you can believe it! You'd do well to stay out of her way and out of other people's business!" 

"What are you talking about?" Aamira managed to say. "Don't you think it's everyone's business if pokemon are just suddenly disappearing?" 

Lucario's expression unbelievably softened. He dropped her on the ground and at last Aamira could breathe again. "You don't get it, do you? If people knew that pokemon were just vanishing they would be in a panic. Even more so since not even the elite investigators can figure out what's going on. No clues whatsoever. I dare you to try to find something. You really care about the pokemon around here than don't say anything about this and cause an unnecessary panic." 

"Unnecessary?" 

"I assure you there's nothing anyone here can do about it, so what would be the point in telling anyone? Now just go home and don't come around here again!" 

Aamira got back on her feet. "I'll say this again: I live here in this city, so I've got the same rights, if not more, that you have to be here. I can come back if I want." 

Lucario was quiet for a while, but then sighed. "Fine. But promise you won't tell Mismagius you were spying on us or tell the others about pokemon going missing. If you do that then I don't care if you come around here again. As long as Mismagius doesn't see you." Lucario turned and headed back towards Shroud Lake without waiting for her promise.

For a second Aamira was tempted to go after him again, but then realized she had no idea what she was doing. All she wanted now more than anything was to get as far away from there as possible and put some distance between her and Lucario. Without stopping once and without looking back Aamira ran back to the Treehouse and back into her room. She then realized for the first time how tired she was and didn't have any trouble sleeping after that.

Aamira woke up the next morning and knew she would never be able to keep something like this from Quill and definitely not the other team members. She decided to tell them while they were having breakfast the next day. 

"What!" They all said at the same time when she was done with her story, just like she knew they would.

"I really don't know about that guy." Aamira said. "And I don't know what had gotten into me last night." 

"Yea, why would you even want to go back there at night?" Haunter asked. 

"I don't know. And after last night I don't really want to at all." 

"I know what's going on, of course!" Machop said with a smirk. 

"Oh, of course you do." Nuzleaf said sarcastically. 

"Shut it!" Machop snapped to him. He turned back to everyone else. "You see, most Riolu have a Lucario for a teacher from the time they move out of the house where they were raised to the time they either evolve or have mastered every technique possible in the Lucario's special martial arts. But if a trained Lucario and an untrained Riolu get together, tempers rise on both sides. This fierce rivalry starts between the two. The Riolu wouldn't want to do what the Lucario said, and the Lucario wouldn't want the Riolu acting like they're better than them. The way you were talking to him… I wonder if maybe he felt like you were trying to tell him that he wasn't worthy to be a teacher. That's what most Lucario want after all."

Aamira looked down, suddenly feeling guilty. It was true that this Lucario wasn't the same as the one she had met during the tournament. How was she supposed to know how to act around a Lucario who seemed to have really been trained and wasn't just another poser like Team Rio's leader? 

"I'm still curious as to why he gave in at the end and even started sounding nicer than before." Quill said. 

Everyone was quiet for a moment before Nuzleaf said, "Well, if he was thinking that Aamira was trying to tell him that he couldn't be a teacher, maybe he was agreeing to it…" 

Aamira felt even worse than she did before. She had made up her mind to go back later that night and somehow find a way to apologize for what she had done the previous night. As long as her temper and apparent instinctive rivalry didn't get in the way. 

They headed straight for the help center to get some jobs off of the bulletin boards, but out in town square was a large commotion. A crowd had gathered around Arcanine and the Growlith who were desperately asking for the crowd to be quiet. Finally everyone settled down and Arcanine started talking. 

"Sometime last night, two pokemon escaped from the prison." She said. "Or at least that's what we think happened. As deputy Growlith had explained to me, the door was still locked, there wasn't any damage done to the prison, everything was as it should have been except the two prisoners were gone without a trace." 

The crowd murmured quietly. Aamira looked over towards Lucario and Mismagius who were looking nervously between each other. 

"Now, that night the always reliable Smeargle was on another one of his late night walks to get inspiration for a new painting reported seeing the silhouette of a lone pokemon walking towards the prison. Other than that, there are no clues as to the disappearance of the two pokemon."

"Hey! Who was it?" Someone shouted. 

Arcanine was quiet for a moment. "This apparent escape is even more unusual since the two pokemon involved were only going to be there for three days for a minor theft charge. It was the two members of Team Rapids." 

The crowd started talking nervously again. Arcanine tried desperately to calm everyone down, but it was in vain. 

"SILENCE!" Noctowl shouted so loudly that everyone jumped and fell silent at once. Noctowl never had to shout, so everyone knew he was serious. "Now then, I think you've all forgotten about our guests, Mismagius and Lucario. They're top notch investigators and I'm sure they will be able to solve this mystery. I'm sorry to ask, but…" 

"Oh! No, no, no! It's no trouble!" Mismagius said in the same cheerful voice she always used. "We would be delighted to help. I mean after coming here, eating the food meant for the townspeople, and taking your best Investigation Teams, it's the least we could do!" 

A few people in the crowd laughed nervously. 

"Very well then, we'll leave it to the two of them. Are there any disagreements?" And, of course, there were none. "Alright, continue the day as you normally would." 

Everyone cleared out of the area, although some people were still talking about what was going on.

"Hey, Aamira?" Quill said. "You know, I always want to try so hard for our team, but after that, I just can't get motivated. What do you say we take the day off?" 

"Thought you would never ask." Aamira said in the same unmotivated tone.

There wasn't much to do. They had already done so much that everything seemed boring now. Aamira had headed over to the library, but her lack of motivation didn't keep her there long. They went to the museum and were happy to see that they had added Charmeleon to the hall of fame after he wasn't included with the rest of his team the first time. But it still seemed like the same old stuff. They couldn't visit Espeon, which was another thing they did a lot, because she was teaching a class, so they just hung out at their Treehouse all day.

At some point Aamira started to get tired for being up late the previous night and decided to go to sleep for a while. When she woke up again it was already night and everyone else was asleep. (Except for Haunter apparently, because for some reason there were some strange, eerie lights coming from his room.) Feeling both a mixture of excitement and fear, Aamira snuck out and headed towards Shroud Lake. 

"Here again, I see?" Lucario had somehow come up behind her without her hearing him at all. Aamira jumped and turned around towards him. "What are you doing here?" 

"Don't start this again." Aamira said. 

"Start what? I'm just wondering. Why do you keep coming around here?" 

"Okay, fine. Last night I was having a nightmare and my friend Quill said that he used to have nightmares all the time and he would come out here to clear his head. I had no idea that you and Mismagius would be here." 

"Okay, then why are you here tonight?" He asked in a skeptical tone. 

"To… apologize for last night…" Aamira said nervously. 

"Apologize?" This obviously hadn't been something he was expecting. 

"One of my friends, who's apparently a genius somehow, said that there's this rivalry between Lucario and untrained Riolu and that I might have been telling you that you weren't cut out to be a teacher without even knowing it." 

Lucario sighed. "And you're right. I'm not cut out to be a teacher." 

"And why's that? You're the first REAL Lucario I've met and still I can somehow tell that you're not the usual sort of Lucario." 

"You've never met a Lucario before now? That explains a lot. Listen, you were right. I had no right in saying you shouldn't be here. And even though you didn't mean it, you were right when you were saying I wasn't cut out to be a teacher. I constantly let my emotions get the better of me, I'm always suspicious of everyone, and I wasn't even raised by a family of Lucario or Riolu." 

"That sounds like me… But I've never let it get the best of me." 

"But I've had students before. Two of them at different times. And both of them ended up dying because of me…" 

Aamira didn't know what to say. She hadn't expected Lucario to open himself up like this. She had just expected him to say "Whatever" and walk away as if nothing had happened the previous night and then she would head back to the Treehouse and it would be like nothing had happened. Of course things rarely seemed to go the way she expected them to. 

"Well what if I became your student?" What was she thinking? Aamira couldn't figure it out. 

Lucario looked into her determined eyes and sighed. "You're really giving me some mixed messages, you know? Now you're telling me that I could be a Lucario master again."

"I understand if you don't want to. I must have looked everywhere and I can't find a good teacher. Sceptile's always away and things didn't work out the first time we actually had the chance to train together, Machop said he would be a teacher, but really he just hangs out in our Treehouse all the time doing nothing but eating our food, Gallade is an actual martial arts teacher, but he doesn't have time to teach one pokemon with all the other pokemon he has coming into his dojo. There was this one other Lucario I met not long ago, but I think he was a poser. He had two students, but didn't really seem to know what he was talking about. And he lost to me in a battle! That's how I know you're a real deal Lucario!" 

Lucario didn't say anything for a while. "Alright. But we have to find somewhere more secluded to practice. And Mismagius can't know about this." 

"Why can't Mismagius know about this?" 

"First off, Riolu don't question what their teacher tells them." 

"Sorry…" 

Lucario crossed his arms. "That's fine; you didn't know. And don't worry; I would never tell you to do anything unreasonable or have you do anything I don't think you could handle. But anyway, Mismagius doesn't know I had a teacher. He preferred to be secretive for some reason and asked me not to tell her, so I didn't. But she wouldn't trust me if she found out now. She never trusts anyone completely. I guess that's where I got it... And to tell you the truth, I'm supposed to be researching this lake, but as you overheard me saying last night I looked many times and there's nothing here. Anyway, if you're serious, I'm leaving it up to you to figure out a place to train." 

"I know a place. It's called Stony Ridge. I went up there once for solo training and an old enemy of our showed up. He was even an outlaw, but he was begging for me to help him train and by the end of the day we became friends somehow… Then we met when we were both entered in the tournament at Divum and we ended up clearing his name for something he was accused of doing so now he isn't an outlaw any more. And all of that just because we met at Stony Ridge." 

"Do weird things like that always happen there?" 

"I'm not really sure. I've only been there twice and both times Charmeleon showed up just by chance. Quill thought he saw Heatran in the dungeon once, but I pointed out that it only lives in volcanoes and he's seen a legendary pokemon in every dungeon after that, it seems. But anyway, I doubt anyone would try to get up there at night. Since it's in the mountains it's probably hard to see and dangerous at night." 

"Then that's where we'll go. Alright we'll start tomorrow. Mismagius and I are, regrettably only going to be here for six more nights. Oh, but your team is joining Special Services, aren't they?" 

"I think so… We never really decided because you just happened to arrive and make that huge tremor when you attacked Team Rapids. But I wonder if we even have a choice if Noctowl's already decided…" 

"Not really, but we always like to get approval from the teams before making them leave their homes." 

This made Aamira feel a little nervous. 

"So how did it go with Lucario?" Quill asked when he woke up later that morning. 

Aamira was still a little stunned over what had happened. "I don't know how, but somehow… I got a teacher…"


	24. Chapter 24 Dream Job

Quill and Aamira were sitting at the table inside their base. Aamira had her head down on the table and quill was watching her angrily. 

"You're getting too distracted lately!" He said to Aamira. 

Aamira ignored him and yawned. 

"I know you're not that tired! Such a determined pokemon that nearly always wants to train should be able to go on a few hours of sleep!" Quill yelled. 

"Not even that. I keep having these horrible dreams when I do fall asleep, and when I wake up I can never remember what they were about. I don't think I've really slept at all in days…" 

Quill groaned. "So what are we going to do about this? We can't just do nothing. If Mismagius doesn't think we're hard working, we won't be able to go work at Special Services." 

"Then just say I'm sick or something." Aamira said in the same tired voice as before. 

"Look, I can't keep this secret anymore. If that's what it comes to, I'll tell Mismagius about you and Lucario training all night." 

Aamira just yawned. She knew that Quill wouldn't have the heart to do it. 

"So how are you even able to practice at night anyway? If you're always so tired, what is it that keeps you going when you're in your classes with Lucario?" 

Aamira sat up. "Forget that, I just remembered something. Weren't those pillows that Vileplume gave us a while ago supposed to make us fall asleep faster and keep us from having bad dreams?"

"Come to think of it, didn't they say those were guaranteed for good dreams? I haven't been having any dreams in a while. Well, what are we waiting for?" Quill jumped off his chair. "Let's head over to the Pedal Shop and find Vileplume. I'm sure when she finds out about this she'll want us to run some errands, but it'll be worth it, won't it?" 

"I hope so…" Aamira got up and swayed a little from her drowsiness then followed Quill out to the Pedal Shop. 

The inside of the shop was covered in flowers and things made from plants as usual. Vileplume was pacing around the room and looked up when they came in. She could tell that something was up the minute she saw how drowsy Aamira was. 

"The pillows stopped working, didn't they?" Oddish asked before they even said anything.

"Yea, how'd you know?" Quill asked. 

"Well aside from the bags under Aamira's eyes, and the tons of people sending letters to complain, mama's new stuff never works on the first try." 

"I don't understand it." Vileplume had gone back to pacing. "Where could I have gone wrong? I tried a Slakoth's Yawn and even my own Sleep Powder and still it won't work. Maybe a sleeping drought? But the only type that doesn't wear off right away is deadly… Maybe a Hypnosis…? No, no, how could I ever get a Hypnosis into a leaf?" 

"I hate it when she gets like this…" Oddish said sadly. "We can say whatever we want right now and she won't hear a word we're saying unless it's an idea for a new product…"

"I got it!" Vileplume stopped pacing and looked at them. "There's a certain pokemon that makes pokemon fall asleep." 

"It gives them nightmares…" Aamira said drowsily. 

"Oh, right, right… but isn't there a pokemon that stops the nightmares?" 

Aamira yawned. "It wakes them up…" 

"Oh, that's right, that's right. Well maybe you both can find them and find a way to combine their effects? I mean, how hard can they be to find?" 

"They're both legendaries…" 

"Yea, that figures…" Vileplume's flower drooped a little. "Well would you two mind looking around for a new solution to insomnia? I hate to bother you with this, but if you do I'll give you the new and improved version." 

"Anything for a few minutes of sleep!" Aamira said desperately. 

Quill and Aamira headed through town. They didn't have any idea what they were supposed to do. 

"I know you're desperate to get some sleep, but where are we supposed to look?" Quill asked after a while. 

"I don't know. I'm too tired to think…" Aamira said. 

Fog started rolling in around them. At least that's what they thought at first. Then they realized they had walked to Shroud Lake out of habit. Aamira, suddenly feeling more drowsy than she had before, sat down near the lake and fell asleep. 

"Why didn't I think of that before?" Quill said to himself. "Shroud Lake cures people of all sorts of problems. I never thought of it curing insomnia, though." Not wanting to wake Aamira up after she finally fell asleep, Quill ran back to Vileplume by himself. 

A few minutes later, he came back with Vileplume and Oddish. Aamira was still sitting by the lake. Her legs were crossed and she had her hands on her knees. It looked like she could just be sitting there with her eyes closed, but she was fast asleep and not having any nightmares.

"This is great!" Vileplume said. "Why didn't I think of this before? I suppose if I use the leaves from the trees around here it would work. But the leaves never fall off of these trees." 

"I'll get them!" Aamira was awake again without warning and seemed full of energy. "Wow, I don't know what it is about this place, but I like it! I'm so full of energy just from that little five minute nap!" 

"How are you going to get them down?" Oddish said, trying to see the tops off the trees through the fog.

"Easy. I'll just climb up!" Aamira said confidently. 

"But you can't even climb the trees in town. They're pretty high, but these are a lot higher." Quill said.

"You got a better idea besides burning down one of the trees?" Aamira turned towards one and ran towards it at full speed then started running up the side. When she started losing speed, she jumped and landed on the lowest branch, which was still about fifty feet up. She looked down and waved to them.

"YOU'LL NEVER MAKE IT TO THE TOP! IF TEAM SKY CAN'T DO IT, YOU DEFINITELY CAN'T! THEY DIDN'T MAKE IT MUCH FARTHER THAN WHERE THE FOG ENDED." Quill shouted up at her. 

"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" Aamira started jumping from branch to branch and went higher through the tree. 

Soon Quill, Vileplume, and Oddish had vanished in the fog that was still surrounding her at this height. After a few minutes she stopped to catch her breath. She realized that the fog had disappeared from around her. She looked below her and saw what looked like a giant cloud. She jumped down a few branches. The fog didn't seem right. It cut off suddenly instead of gradually fading out. She was even able to sit on a branch and touch the fog below her. She jumped into the fog, thinking that the leaves might only work if they were in the fog. She found a good leaf that wasn't too big and started pull on it. 

"Ah! What are you doing!" Aamira definitely hadn't been expecting to hear anyone. She turned around and saw a Pachirisu standing on the branch. "Why would you take leaves from someone else's yard?" 

"Yard?" Aamira looked around. "Oh, you… live here?" 

"Of course I live here! Where else would I live?" She said angrily. 

"On the… ground?" 

"On the WHAT? You hit your head on a branch or something? What are you, anyway?" 

"A Riolu… Don't you know what Riolu are?"

"Riolu? Riolu, Riolu… Nope. Can't say I've ever heard of a Riolu. Where's your colony?"

"Uhh… colony?" 

Pachirisu shook her head. "Never mind. Why don't you come with me?" Pachirisu took Aamira's hand and led her to a hole in the tree trunk. Inside was a big "house" of some sort that was filled with Pachirisu. 

"This is my colony. We call it Dream Town." Pachirisu said. (And it seemed so ironic to Aamira.) "They're all really energetic as you can see." 

It was true. There were Pachirisu running around all over. There was furniture made from twigs and small leaves that Vileplume would have been jealous of. There was a small choir that was singing on the other side of the tree. Other than the choir everything else was hectic and chaotic.

"Hey, what's this thingy?" One of the Pachirisu started pulling on Aamira's Collection Bag. Aamira quickly pulled it away. He looked at her curiously. "What are you?" 

'Are these guys for real?' Aamira thought. 

"One of those ground dwellers…" Nearly everyone turned towards the voice. There was an older looking Pachirisu sitting in a chair a little ways away. He was wearing a hat with holes in it for his ears. His right ear was torn. His eyes were a foggy white and he had blue stripes all over him, not just one down his tail. 

"Uncle Speck!" The Pachirisu that had led Aamira there said to him. "Stop it with your crazy stories! You know as well as any of us does that there's nothing under the white mist!" 

All the Pachirisu seemed worried at the mention of "white mist". 

"Do you mean the fog?" Aamira asked. 

"No! Not the fog! We live in the fog! I'm talking about all the whiteness under the tree and out in every direction. Surely you know about the white mist!" 

"She doesn't know about it, because it doesn't exist and she comes from below it." Speck said. 

"Please Uncle! Enough of this!" 

Speck stood up. "I'm tired of no one believing me. I was down there myself and I saw what was down there. Giant pokemon not like Pachirisu running around in groups of two and three all carrying bags like this one." He pointed at Aamira. "They live in trees like we do, but their houses are opened and most of the time you can see inside." 

"That's ridiculous!" One of the Pachirisu said. (Aamira was sure it was the one that brought her here, but she had lost track.) "How could there be a whole world right under us? And how could they survive in the mist? Only monsters survive in the mist, and you don't look like one!" 

Speck shook his head and turned to Aamira. "Perhaps you would like to clear things up? Go on. Tell them about where you come from." 

"What?" Aamira looked around nervously not knowing what to say. "What could I tell you about?" 

"Told you. She doesn't come from the ground. There's not even any such thing." 

"Yes there is." Aamira said. 

"And it's covered in tiny green leaves?" One of the Pachirisu asked sarcastically. 

"Yea it is. It's called grass. I can't believe there are a bunch of pokemon living up here that don't even know there's anything below them." 

"They won't listen to me." Speck said. "This one time a couple of these strange looking pokemon came up this way. Everyone thought they were monsters coming from the white mist to attack us. Because my eyes resemble the mist, the colony thought for the longest time that I was meant to do something great. They all figure that I was supposed to stop the monsters. So I attacked them and we fell to the ground. I was shocked by everything I had seen in their city. Scared me too. I ran right back up the tree. Everyone thought I was a hero for falling into the mist then somehow coming back alive; no one had ever done it before. But when I started telling them about what I saw down there, they thought I had gone crazy." 

"Please stop, Uncle Speck!" One of the Pachirisu said. 

"Why don't you just go down there and look for yourselves?" Aamira asked. 

All the Pachirisu (except Speck) gasped and looked around nervously. 

"No one goes beneath the mist!" One of the older looking Pachirisu said. "In our ancient scripts, it is written of terrible monsters that once tried to destroy our world. The mist was created as a barrier to protect us by the souls of the monsters' victims, but it's a two way thing. No monsters can come up here usually, but if one of us falls into the mist, we're gone forever. When we die our souls go back down to keep the mist there, and whenever a soul comes back up from the mist, someone is born. But if any of us fall into the mist, we're gone forever; never to return here or to the mist. It will be like we never existed."

'I really can't believe this…' Aamira thought. 'Of course if one of them fell from this height they wouldn't come back. That's a bad fall. They can't be serious though, even though they obviously are...' 

"Ridiculous legends!" Speck said. 

"You can't deny the proof. Your eyes are like the mist, so you could come back from it. Her eyes are like the mist, so she could go through it." 

Aamira's ear twitched. "Wait, they are?" 

"Of course! Don't you know what your own eyes look like?" The Pachirisu ran and grabbed a mirror and ran back to show her. Sure enough Aamira's eyes turned a light grey like the fog. 

Then she got an idea. "Well then why don't you believe that there's another world below the mist, which is, by the way, just the same fog that you get up here." 

"It's not fog, for one, and second, why would you expect us to believe there's really a world below the mist?" The older Pachirisu said. Aamira figured he must have been their city's elder.

"Well, I came up here not knowing there was a city above the fog, and Speck went down there not knowing there was a city below it. I bet when I go back down there none of my friends will believe me and probably think I'm crazy." 

Some of the Pachirisu looked around uncertainly. 

The elder looked right at her. "Fine. If you can prove there's another world below the mist, then we'll believe you, but none of us is going down there without proof." 

Aamira thought for a minute. "Well can't you tell just by looking out across the forest?" 

"What else is out there? Our trees here are surrounded by the mist; it's not just below us." 

Aamira couldn't believe them. "You're all missing out on so much! There's a giant world out there that you don't even know about! Large bodies of water, giant mountain ranges, other forests, vast prairies where all you see in any direction is grass and sky! It's all amazing and you're all missing so much of it! You've been locked in by a deadly mist that doesn't even exist!" 

"Prove it!" One of them shouted. 

"Yea!" Shouted the rest. 

One of the Pachirisu, Aamira thought she was the one that led her here, had a glimmer in her eyes that looked like the longing for adventure. Aamira figured that she really did believe her Uncle Speck, but didn't want to say so to the others.

"Well, we can always go up higher. Did you ever try that?" Aamira asked. 

"Is there anything higher than here?" The elder asked. 

"Oh come on!" Aamira was determined to convince them, but they were being ridiculous. Speck seemed like the only sane one there and they all thought he was crazy. 

"It's not that there's mist up there. We can see a glimmering light through the fog above us. It's just that no one's ever tried to go up higher." He explained. 

"I've never gone up there either…" Speck admitted. 

"Neither have I, but it's probably not dangerous for Pachirisu." Aamira said. "If I go, will someone come with me?"

"I'll go! I know my uncles telling the truth!" The longing for adventure in her eyes was stronger than before. 

"I knew it, it wasn't just her uncle; Chupa's whole family's crazy…" One of the other Pachirisu said. 

"I'll go too." Aamira hadn't expected this from the elder. 

"And me." It wasn't surprising that Speck wanted to go. He adjusted his hat, which Aamira knew must have meant he was ready any time she was. 

"Alright, but first I need to ask a favor. You see, a friend of mine on the ground needs some of the leaves from up here. The higher up the better, but I'm afraid that the leaves that are so high up that they're out of the fog will be useless. So do you mind if I take some from around here?"

"Not at all!" The elder said. "But if I find out you're lying about all of this, I'll assume that they're somehow a part of an evil plot to destroy our world and I'll take them back from you."

Aamira nodded. "Deal." She walked outside and pulled out a few leaves, which was a lot harder than it should have been, and put them in her bag. 

The three Pachirisu followed her. She jumped up on a higher branch and the three hesitant Pachirisu followed slowly. They continued like this for a while. After a while the Pachirisu gained more confidence and followed behind more quickly. Soon Aamira didn't even have to look back to see if they were following. 

The three of them were blinded when they saw the sun for the first time. Aamira had to grab them to keep them from falling. 

"What is that?" Chupa asked. 

"What, the sun?" Aamira asked. It didn't surprise her anymore. "It's funny you don't know about that since your tree needs its light to grow. That would actually explain why these trees are so tall. At one point the fog must have not been here and when it rolled in, the trees must have grown taller to reach more sunlight." 

"All I see is the fog." The elder said. "Well?" 

"We need to go a little higher." Aamira started jumping from the branches again. 

They had to be getting closer to the top; the branches were getting noticeably thinner, but were still large enough to walk on as easily as walking on the ground. After a while Aamira stopped and looked around and was amazed by what she saw. 

Aamira sat on the branch and smiled. "Well, here's your proof." She said to the three extremely tired looking Pachirisu. 

The three of them jumped up to the branch she was on and looked out over the world that they had never known about. Their eyes sparkled, except for the elder's. Out in the south was a small glimmer on the horizon that Aamira guessed must be the ocean, though it wasn't very clear. To the east, north, and northwest was the mountain range, though in the north it could barely be seen past the forest. Far in the west was a prairie, although like the ocean and part of the mountain range, it was cut off by the forest and the horizon. Above them was the blue sky stretching out in every direction. There were a few clouds, though they seemed to be far above most of them. 

"Look down." Speck said. 

Down below was the fog they had come from. It was undeniable proof that there was no mist and that the fog just turned white farther into the distance. 

Aamira sighed peacefully at the sight. The view was amazing and the world seemed so pure from up there. She leaned back against the trunk of the tree and looked around for a while longer. 

"I think you should leave now." The elder said after a while. 

"What? Go!" Chupa said. 

"Her friends are probably worried." Speck said. 

"It's not that." Their elder sighed before continuing. "Our whole way of life has revolved around our tiny bit of the world that we know. Pachirisu souls come from the mist. Or so we've been told. Now what are we supposed to believe?" 

"No one knows why we're alive or where we come from." Aamira said. "But people try to figure it out. Legends are created to explain things we don't understand. That's how yours started most likely. But do you really think you should hide the truth from everyone?" 

He sighed again. "Most of us are strong believers. In fact, these two are the only ones that truly believe that there's another world outside of Dream Town. It's peaceful and we can do whatever we want without a care." He put his right paw over his heart. "You have no idea how much it hurts to see this… to know my whole life was a lie…" tears came to his eyes.

"Yea, I get it…" Chupa's tail drooped. "So… we can't ever tell anyone about this? Because it would make everyone sad?" 

"No, we have to do more than that." Their elder looked towards the west. "We have to… disappear from our world. And join the other pokemon out in the bigger world. No matter how much it hurts to leave or how sad it will be to leave without saying goodbye… We can't risk it. It's better this way." 

"How could you think that?" Aamira said. "Maybe that's how this whole thing started. Someone made up a legend to explain the fog. Then maybe a few brave Pachirisu went into the fog to see if it was true and found that other world. They didn't want to make everyone feel like their whole life was a lie, so they never went back, which would make it seem like the legend was true. One lie just makes another one grow. Does anyone deserve that?"

The elder shook his head. "No, but no one would ever be able to get over it. Their children would wonder about what it was like to think all of the world was inside a thick fog. Countless lives would be ruined. Sometimes, lying is just necessary." 

"That doesn't make it right…" Aamira didn't argue anymore. "So where are you going to go?"

"We'll be explorers!" Chupa said. "Right, uncle? You would want to explore this new world, wouldn't you?"

"My heart longing for adventure…" Speck said. "Yes, there can't be any other life like it!"

"Then it's settled!" Chupa smiled. "We'll disappear from our world! We'll be explorers! And we'll learn all we can about this new world!" 

"You're really alright with leaving everyone like that?" Aamira smiled. "I'm really jealous of all three of you. You're so brave and adventurous and I actually started my life of adventure reluctantly. The one who is now my best friend I hated more than anything back then, if you can believe it, but now he's the only one I can't live without. But if you ever get scared or anything, just remember, it's not the size and strength of a pokemon, it's the size and strength of their heart." 

Chupa's eyes were watering up. "Wow! That's so cool and you just made that up on the spot! I know, I'll write a book on my life as it was in Dream Town and then of the things I saw after I found out about the new world. And maybe one day all of our friends back in Dream Town could read it too!" 

"Let's not get hasty now!" The elder said. "We're disappearing, remember? We can't just come back like that!"

"Right, I forgot." She said quickly. "But what if one of them goes into the mist and sees the world? And we just happen to run into them? It would be nice to be able to explain everything to someone who came from where we did."

Speck tilted his hat to Aamira. "So, I guess this is goodbye, my new friend. I really feel horrible for having to leave all of our family members behind, but I think going back would be worse. Oh, and don't be surprised if someday you find out about a new legend in Dream Town about a monster called Riolu." They all laughed.

None of them had the heart to leave. They all sat there for a while longer and watched the sun set. None of them had ever seen anything like it. (Aamira because she had never seen the view from the top of one of the taller trees.) When the stars started to come out and the moon shone brightly on the horizon, they all bid their farewells and parted ways. Aamira smiled. She was happy for what she had done, but also a bit sad about most of them still having to live a lie. Either way, she had a world of her own waiting down there for her.

"Aamira!" Quill shouted. 

"I'm coming!" She shouted back. The next thing she knew, she was laying on the ground next to Shroud Lake. 

"Oh, you're finally awake!" Oddish said. 

Aamira's head was throbbing. The last thing that happened up in the tree was a blur in her memories. "What happened? Did I fall out of the tree?" 

Quill laughed. "Wow, you really were asleep! And having a good dream too, apparently! You were smiling the whole time, although sometimes tears would come to your eyes." 

"What?" Aamira looked up the tree she had just been in. There was no sign from the ground at all of Dream Town. Then it hit here. "Ah! Why didn't I see it before? The town was even called Dream Town and I never guessed that I was asleep?" 

"Sounds like an interesting dream." Vileplume said. 

"Yea, you'll have to tell me about it later." Quill said. "Anyway, after you fell asleep, I ran to get Vileplume and Oddish. You were still asleep when I got back a few minutes ago, but they said they might need your help so we decided it might be best to wake you up." 

"That was only… a few minutes?" Aamira asked. 

"What, did you think it was night? Look around!" Vileplume said. 

Aamira looked around. It was true. Even though it was darker from the fog than it was in most places, it wasn't as dark as it would be. 

"That dream was so real though… So Speck, Chupa, and the elder were just part of a dream…" It made Aamira a little sad. Aamira stood up. A strange rustling sound came from her bag. Aamira opened it and pulled out some leaves, obviously too big to come from the main part of Vine City, but the leaves never fell around the lake. 

Aamira took them out and held them up for everyone else to see. "If it was all just a dream, then where did these come from?"


	25. Chapter 25 Lost at Sea

Quill woke up earlier than usual to a weird pounding sound coming from Aamira's room. By now it didn't really surprise him that something was going on in there. Aamira was always up to something nowadays.

Out in the hall, Machop was looking into her room wide eyed. He screamed and ran out of the way just in time to dodge Aamira's punching back which flew out of her door and almost hit him. It looked more beat up than it ever had before and there were several holes in it where the stuffing was coming out. What was more shocking was the reason it had flown out of the door. Somehow, the chain attaching it to the ceiling had snapped. 

Aamira stepped out of her room looking a little embarrassed and brought the punching bag back into her room.

"Chill out, will you?" Quill said. "I know you're not having too bad of a problem sleeping anymore, but I'm not sure if it's normal to have this much energy… Especially after training all night."

"No idea where Lucario learned all of this stuff, but he knows a lot of tricks. Even ones for getting more energy when you're really tired. Apparently he never even sleeps!" 

Quill looked at her a little confused. "You know, you're acting different from before he showed up."

"Remember when I told you about that rivalry thing between Lucario and Riolu without a teacher?" Machop said, still a little stunned from before. "Well somewhere along the line when a Riolu gets a teacher they start to admire them instead of think of them as a rival. In fact, even further along the line they don't even think about anyone except their teachers. That's why most Lucario and Riolu end up loners."

"Loners!" Quill turned to Aamira. "That's not what's happening to you, is it?"

"No, of course not. It's just that the trick he showed me really works to help me from getting drowsy and he… started giving me homework…" 

Quill looked into her room. The floor was covered in papers and martial arts text books and it looked like she even got a new desk. The mess was unbelievable. Even when Quill was in the academy, Quill's room had never looked like this before. He had no idea how the two of them had been keeping this a secret from Mismagius if they were carrying textbooks back and fourth between their Treehouse and Stony Ridge. 

Aamira slammed her door shut and blocked it so no one could get in again. Quill could feel how embarrassed she was over that. 

"I didn't know Lucario give their students written homework…" Quill said. 

"It's not just that. I have to practice anything new until it's perfect and if I somehow mess it up I would have to learn it all over again… And now that punching bag's broken so it looks like we'll have to get some missions today." 

"Finally!" Quill said. 

"I'm afraid that might have to wait!" Delibird flew up the stairs. "I've been looking for you. I thought you would be down stairs so I waited, but no one showed up." 

"Oh, sorry." Aamira said. 

"Never mind that now." He said. "Mismagius says that your whole team has to get to town hall ASAP." 

"Well that's a problem since Nuzleaf left to visit his family last night." said Quill. "Either way, we should probably see what's going on."

Out by town hall, Noctowl and Mismagius were waiting along with the four Hoothoot who were the elders of all the other cities in Sylva. The four of them looked really shocked and were fluttering around frantically. 

"How could it be that many?" One of them said. 

"Gone without a trace?" Another said. 

One of them stopped and landed on the ground and started to calm down. "Team Sleuth is here!" All the others stopped and landed. 

"So what's going on?" Aamira asked. 

"You remember how Crawdaunt and Croconaw vanished without a trace a while back, yes?" Mismagius said. "Well in reality, there are a lot more than just the two of them. All over the world and from every country, at least one pokemon has gone missing without a trace. Regrettably I fear that Lucario and I won't be able to handle this alone. Just recently one of the investigators at Special Services headquarters went missing. Teams Sky and Overgrow left earlier to investigate disappearances in Pacis and Chalybs. We thought they would be able to handle it, but shortly after that, another missing report came it." 

"They're okay, aren't they?" Quill said. 

"Oh, yes! Team Overgrow and Team Sky are fine. In fact, the strange thing is that the disappearance happened half the world away from our headquarters. Team Sky and Team Overgrow won't be able to make it and after digging around we discovered that you two are well liked in the area of the new missing pokemon." 

"It wouldn't be Ignis, would it?" Aamira said excitedly. 

"Actually yes." Mismagius said. "And also, I'd like for your other team members to help me on an investigation in a dungeon called Forbidden Forest." 

"Yessss!" Haunter turned in the air excitedly. 

"Just my luck…" Machop said glumly. "Nuzleaf's gone and we're going to a place where I'll be at a type disadvantage the whole way…" 

"Oh it won't be that bad." Mismagius said. "Anyway, you two should be going." 

"But isn't Ignis on an island on the other side of the world?" Quill asked. "How are we supposed to get there?" 

"Someone from the west coast is going to fly in and bring you to a boat that will take you to Ignis." 

"Couldn't they just fly us all the way there?" Aamira asked. 

"No, unfortunately. Their kind isn't really welcome around the island." She looked up. "Oh, here they come now!" 

A couple of Pelipper flew down and landed in between them. 

"Ready to go?" The first one asked. 

"No dilly dallying!" the second one snapped at them. 

"Are you sure about this…?" Quill asked. 

"Oh, no worries!" Mismagius said. "These two are faster than they look. You should be there in just a little while. Though I would watch out if I were you. Sometimes some of the flying type pokemon will attack if they see pokemon from the ground flying in their territory on another flying pokemon." 

"Mid air battles!" Aamira said excitedly. 'A good opportunity to practice that new technique!' Then Aamira realized that this would mean that she would have to miss her classes with Lucario, and they didn't have many left. 

Quill understood what Aamira was thinking and asked Mismagius so she wouldn't have to, since her classes with Lucario were supposed to be a secret. "By the way, I haven't seen Lucario in a while. Is he okay?" 

"Yes, of course. He's one of the most famous Investigators there is, after all. And that's not all just talk. He's been asking to go on a top secret mission for some time, but I didn't think he would be able to do it with his temper. But ever since we got, here he seemed to be calmer than normal. In fact, the change is almost scary. So when I asked him if he still wanted to go, he leapt at the opportunity." 

"Oh, so he's gone on a mission?" Quill asked, feeling Aamira's sadness. 

"Yes, but… he wanted me to give this to you two, strange enough, but I can't figure it out…" Mismagius handed the two of them a note: 

Youd onth avet owor ryab outt heho mewo rkin stea dwat chou tfor thek idna ppe rsthe yrec lose rtha nman yrea lize iwor ryfo rthe safe tyof allt hepo kemo nint heco untr yofs ylva ican note xpla inno wthe rea resom ethi ngst hata rwor ryin gmed ontt rust anyo neno teve ntho secl oses ttoy ouwa tchf orap atte rnin thek idna ppin gsan dyou mayf indt hean swer

Quill and Aamira both looked at the note with no idea of what it meant. 

"I see neither of you have any idea of what it might mean either." Mismagius said to them. "Well, you can figure it out later, maybe. What's really got me confused is why he would want to give the two of you something like this." 

"Hel-lo!" One of the Pelliper said. We should be going, right?" 

"Oh, yea!" Quill climbed onto the back of one of the Pelliper and Aamira climbed onto the other. 

A few hours later they landed in a port on the west coast. There was a large ship waiting for them. 

A Grovyle jumped from the ship and landed in front of them. One of his eyes had two bad scars over it and seemed to be stuck in a squint. Aside from that, he had some more scars all over him and the leaf on his head was even torn. He was also duller in color compared to most Grovyle and had an emerald pendant around his neck. 

"You're Team Sleuth, eh?" His voice sounded tough, which added to his appearance. He made the two of them nervous. Upon realizing this, he laughed. "No need to be that worried about me. Been in one fight too many when I was younger. I prefer just to stick to the sea nowadays." He turned to go back to the ship. "Well, come on! Ignis isn't going anywhere but the pokemon living there might!" 

Quill and Aamira hurried onto the ship without saying anything. Grovyle jumped up and released some of the sails and the ship started to move out of port. 

"Can you really sail this without a crew?" Aamira asked after a while. 

Grovyle laughed. "Of course. And no crew means I can do whatever I want. Besides, 'crew' sounds like a pirate word to me. I don't want anything to do with pirates." 

It was obvious then that he wasn't trying to act tough or anything. If he really wanted to look tougher, he probably would have gotten an eye patch, which would probably do more for Grovyle than a lot of pokemon.

"Hey, do you ever have any trouble seeing out of that eye?" Quill asked nervously. 

"I've gone completely blind in that eye. Sometimes I have trouble seeing out to port, but it's not a big deal. Nothing out here for miles."

This didn't do anything to calm Aamira and Quill down. Especially Quill since he was a fire type and he couldn't swim. 

When they were farther out to sea, Grovyle jumped up to the sails that were still up and released them. He pointed a triangular sail towards the wind and the ship noticeably picked up some speed. 

After a while the sound of the sea and the Wingull had a calming effect on both of them. Quill fell asleep in the shade of one of the sails and Aamira looked out at the sea while standing on the prow of the ship. 

Soon night fell and they realized how long they had actually been gone. But what were they expecting? They lived half a world away, after all, but they hadn't eaten anything all day. Quill obviously didn't feel hungry though. In fact, he looked like he was about to be sick when he finally woke up. 

Grovyle was suddenly more alert than usual, which made Aamira and Quill nervous. He kept turning his head to the left, which was of course his blind spot. 

To keep their minds off of it, they went to looking at Lucario's message. 

"I don't get this at all. Is this even in English?" Quill said. 

"No idea. You would think he would at least tell me about something like this." Aamira had even tried her ability, but it wouldn't work. In fact, it hadn't been working as much as it usually did lately. 

"Well let's look at the bits we do get. It looks like a few of these words are English at least." 

"Go below deck!" Grovyle ordered them. 

"Why? What's going on?" Aamira asked, then followed his gaze out to the left side of the ship. Another ship was quickly approaching them. On board was a whole group of pokemon. At the front was a blue one with large tusks. 

"Walrein…" Grovyle was shaking all over. Then he turned to the two of them. "Get below deck! Quickly! Before they see the two of you are here!" He took his emerald pendant from around his neck and gave it to Quill. "Hold on to that for me and don't lose it!"

Aamira and Quill hadn't the slightest idea what was going on, but both ran to get below deck. Once they were in the deepest part of the ship they could find, Quill looked at the emerald pendant, wondering what could be so important about it. 

There was a loud bang and the whole ship shook so violently it felt like it was going to capsize. Another one followed, but Aamira and Quill were able to grab onto some wooden beams so they wouldn't fall over. 

"Are we being attacked?" Quill said. "What happens if the ship sinks?" 

"Then you better find a piece of wood to hold onto!" Aamira looked towards the stairs leading to the deck. Voices could be faintly heard above them. "Wait here." She got up and ran to the door before she could be knocked down again. 

"Wait, don't leave me here!" Quill said. 

"What else could we do? You don't want to get thrown overboard or something, do you?"

Quill shook his head and Aamira ran above deck. 

"Stop being so difficult!" The Walrein from earlier yelled at Grovyle. "Give us your treasure and we might even consider tossing you somewhere near the shore!" 

Grovyle had his hands tied up and was surrounded by another group of pokemon including a Meowth, Persian, Golduck, Duskull, Sneasel, and Chatot. 

Grovyle looked defiantly up at Walrein. "Not if you froze me and tossed me into the sea!"

"What does a treasure like that mean to you, anyway?" Walrein asked. 

"Anyway!" Chatot repeated. 

"You'll never find out!" Grovyle growled at him. "And you won't ever lay your eyes on it again!" 

Walrein traced the scars on Grovyle's eye with his tusks. Grovyle flinched. "Those scars are the mark of your near escape. You're not going to be so lucky this time unless you tell us where it is!"

"Tell us where it is!" Chatot repeated. 

Aamira didn't have much of an idea about what was going on, but she knew that Walrein was trying to mug Grovyle and Grovyle was completely defenseless. Aamira used Aura Sphere, which had gotten a lot stronger since she started training with Lucario, while Walrein's back was turned and Walrein fell onto the deck. 

The other pokemon turned their attention from Grovyle to Aamira, who already had another Aura Sphere ready. 

"Captain's down!" Chatot screeched. "Attack! Attack!" 

All the pokemon attacked Aamira at once. She used Aura Sphere on the nearest one, then started using the martial arts moves that Lucario had taught her. One of them was a spinning attack for multiple enemies. She would spin on her hands and kick all of them away at once. The Duskull was a bit of a problem though, being a ghost type, but luckily he scared easily, so after a few hits he flew away towards the ocean. 

All of the pokemon attacked again. She used the spinning move like before and knocked four of them overboard. Aamira felt more triumphant than ever before, but she wasn't allowed that one moment of glory. Chatot, the only one of them that was left, used Areal Ace and knocked Aamira out in just one attack. 

"Excellent work, Chatot." Walrein got up and walked towards him. "This one's got some good fighting moves. Maybe we could persuade it to join us." 

"Grovyle!" Chatot squawked.

Too late. Grovyle had broken through the ropes and attacked Walrein with Leaf Blade. Soon the two of them were fighting tusk and leaf. 

"Get 'em captain!" Chatot shouted. "You show him why you're called the menace of the sea!" 

"Stop your squawking and attack, you bird brain!" Walrein shouted. 

"What's the matter?" Grovyle said. "Too chicken to fight me alone?" 

"Don't try that with me! Pirates have no pride! I could build up an army and attack you if I wanted to!" 

Grovyle and Walrein were evenly matched, so Grovyle didn't stand a chance when Chatot joined in. They attacked him mercilessly until he was finally unconscious. 

The rest of Walrein's crew came up in their much larger ship and waited for Walrein to say something. 

"Golduck, Sneasel, throw these two in the brig and make sure there's no possible way for them to get away."

"Aye, aye, captain!" They crossed a plank and took Grovyle and Aamira onto their ship. 

After Walrein and Chatot got back to their own ship, Walrein turned to Duskull, who thought it would have been smarter to come back then to run away. "Fire the cannon's. Sink the ship." 

"But captain!" Chatot said. "What if the emerald is on board?"

"Then let it sink! Oh what would he think when he finds out? I'd love to find out. If it's hidden somewhere else, we'll get him to talk, if it sinks with the ship, we'll know right away. Now, sink the ship!" 

"Aye, aye!" 

"I told you to stay below deck!" Grovyle said to Aamira sometime after they woke up. Both of them were chained up below deck on the pirate's ship. "And you might as well stop struggling. The chains that these pirates use are really strong and impossible to slip out of." 

Aamira didn't listen. Instead she continued to struggle. "I know I can get out of here." 

"Give it a rest already, kid!" 

Aamira stopped. "Alright. Then how about you explain what's going on!" 

Grovyle sighed. "They want that pendant that I was wearing. They've been chasing me around for a long time trying to get it from me. During one of our battles, I was able to jump overboard and get away, but Walrein just barely got my eye. Ever since then he's been attacking from port, my blind spot. So now after the sun goes down I always get really anxious and keep looking to my left to make sure he doesn't appear on the horizon."

"If he wants that pendant so much, why not just give it to him?" Aamira asked. "I think a valuable gem would be worth your life at least, no matter how much IT'S worth!" 

"That emerald is my life. It was given to me by someone I really care about. I don't know if it was just an old myth or if their was some truth to it, but when she gave me that pendant, she said as long as I kept it with me, some day we would find each other again." 

Aamira looked at him guiltily. She didn't know it could be worth that much to him. 

"But it's safe, right?" he asked. "Your friend had it. And all Cyndaquil can swim." 

Aamira's heart suddenly started racing. Walrein had told them that he sunk the ship and was convinced that the pendant didn't go down with it because Grovyle didn't react much, but Grovyle thought Cyndaquil could swim! And all this time Aamira thought that Walrein had been bluffing and Grovyle had just seen through it! 

She started struggling again. 

"Quill can't swim!" Grovyle said, also in a panic. "What can we do? These chains aren't breakable." 

Aamira took a deep breath and twisted one of her hands. After taking another breath, she was able to slip it out of the chain. 

Grovyle just stared. "Nice trick. Where did you learn how to do that?" 

Aamira didn't answer and instead concentrated on getting her second hand out of the other chain. After Aamira was free she got Grovyle out of his shackles. "There are life boats on these ships, aren't there?" 

"Yea, of course. Not even pirates are stupid enough not to have some, but you're not suggesting that we steal one and escape in it, are you?" 

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Aamira remembered the time in Divum when Quill's life had been in danger. Somehow she had cured him. She had no idea how she did it, what she did, or if she could ever do it again. But since then, Aamira could always sort of sense Quill. Somehow, he was still alive. 

Quill was having a dream that Wingull were circling above him. The violent waves out at sea that he had heard before losing consciousness now sounded very quiet and distant. One of the Wingull flew down and started pecking at his nose. Quill wiggled his nose to try to get it to go away, but it poked at him again. 

"Stop it!" Quill rolled over onto his back. "Just let me sleep!" 

The Wingull pecked him again, so hard this time that he yelped and opened his eyes. It wasn't a dream. Overhead were Wingull flying out towards the sea in the morning light. There was even the distant sound of waves, which meant that he must have been on a beach somewhere, even though he was sure he had just been drowning. As he blinked the sand and sea water out of his eyes, he saw what had really been "pecking" him in his sleep. Standing above him was a darker colored Cyndaquil, wearing a band around it's head that had a feather in it, and it was pointing a spear at Quill. 

Quill yelled and stood up in a hurry. There were more Cyndaquil like the first one standing behind him. A lot more. And they were all about half of Quill's size. 

"Am… Am I dead?" Quill said after a while, his voice cracking after swallowing all of that seawater. 

The Cyndaquil that had been poking him just laughed. "Of course not, brother! Welcome to Lava Lava Island!"


	26. Chapter 26 Lava Lava Island

Quill looked at the smaller Cyndaquil confused. He had never seen any that were half his size before. "Wait, what did you mean by 'brother'?" He asked curiously.

"That's just something we say." The Cyndaquil said. "But why not? All Cyndaquil should think of each other as a brother or sister, right? We're peaceful like that."

"Uh… sure?"

Cyndaquil looked curiously at the emerald around Quill's neck. "Where did you ever get something like that? That looks like the royal crest!"

Quill finally remembered. Grovyle had given it to him and told him not to lose it. But him and Aamira… Where did they go?

"Are you alright?" The smaller Cyndaquil asked.

Quill looked back at him. "Oh, yea. Sorry."

"You're kinda weird, stranger." One of the other Cyndaquil said. "Who are you and were did you come from?"

"Don't be rude to our guest!" The first Cyndaquil said.

"It is a bit weird though… that you're so trusting." Quill said. "Either way… my name's Quill and I come from Vine City in the country of Sylva."

"Silva?" They all stepped back a little in a panic, except for the first one who appeared to be their leader although he did seem to be a little nervous.

"What's wrong with Sylva?" Quill asked.

Their leader seemed to calm down a little and turned back to the other mini Cyndaquil. "The tragedy that befell our island many years back can't cloud our vision of the present. Our guest is a Cyndaquil and cannot be evil! Let us not forget that!"

"Aye!" The other Cyndaquil saluted, all smiling happily.

"What's this tragedy that you mentioned?" Quill asked.

The Cyndaquil leader looked around nervously. "Lava Lava Island is surrounded by whirlpools. We always thought that it would keep unfriendly folk away from our island, but a few years ago a pokemon showed up on the beach like you just did. It was badly hurt so we took it back to our village. Our healer spent morning, noon, and night trying to help it recover. When it finally woke up it said that it came from Sylva, but wouldn't say much more than that. That pokemon lived with us while it recovered, but soon we noticed things were starting to go missing around the island. We all see the whole village as a family and we would never steal from each other. It was apparent to our leader that our visitor must have been the thief. But then our 'guest' suddenly vanished.

"Things were getting back to normal. But then two months later our leader's wife disappeared and the thief sent a letter for our leader to head into the forest if he wanted to see her again. We never saw any of them again after that. One of his cousins took over as the leader. He was my dad, so I became the leader after him. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Shortly after our real leader disappeared, the volcano erupted and most of our homes were destroyed. We were all fortunate that no one got hurt when the volcano erupted, but none of us really knew how to rebuild the houses but our leader. He was the oldest and was around when a lot of the houses were built, so naturally he was the only one who would have been able to build them.

"We were able to make smaller versions of our old homes, but we have to rebuild them nearly every year when typhoon season comes. During that time we all live in a cave in the face of the volcano, but living in the cave is nothing compared to the smell of the sea. Plus you can't swim in lava."

"You can swim?" Quill asked. Some of the Cyndaquil laughed.

"Of course!" their leader said. "What, can't you?"

"No. I don't even float…" Quill turned back to the ocean behind him. "So how did I even get here?"

"Who knows?" He said. "You sure were lucky though. What were you doing out at sea anyway?"

"My friend Aamira and I were sailing to the country of Ignis to do an investigation. But then the ship was attacked by pirates. Grovyle, the pokemon who was sailing us to Ignis, gave me this emerald amulet and told Aamira and I to hide below deck, but then she went up to help Grovyle. I didn't want to get thrown overboard or something, so I stayed down there. I heard fighting from on deck, but after a while it died down, the voices stopped, and the pirates sunk the ship while I was still on it. But I don't know what happened after that." Quill turned back to the ocean again. "Oh, I hope they're okay… What would those pirates have done with them?"

"Who knows? But I'm sure they'll turn up."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm not, but I know that good friends always have a habit of finding each other again if they look long enough."

"Maybe we should take the giant Cyndaquil back to the village?" The smallest, and apparently youngest, Cyndaquil asked.

"Sure, why not?" Their leader turned to Quill. "You can stay as long as you need to as long as you don't steal anything."

All the Cyndaquil started to walk back to their village. Quill ran to catch up with their leader.

"You said that friends can usually find each other if they look hard enough." Quill said. "But I can't swim. And even if I could, didn't you say that there were whirlpools around the island?"

"Well then I guess your friends will just have to look hard for you." He said cheerfully. "What in the…?"

In the middle of the village was a small group of other mini Cyndaquil all talking nervously.

"What's going on here?" Quill asked.

One of the Cyndaquil looked over at them and ran to their leader, completely ignoring Quill. "Chief! Chief! It's horrible! That thief has come back!"

"What!" he said. "Where did they go?"

"I saw it disappear into the forest." One of them said. "I lost sight of it quickly, but I went looking for it. But when I got to the other side of the island, you can bet I was shocked, there was a huge group of pokemon there! And one of them was the same type as the thief!"

"This sounds serious…" Their leader said. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I can go check it out for you." Quill said.

"You'd do that?" One of the other Cyndaquil asked.

"Sure." Quill pulled his Aura Glass out of his bag. "I'm an Investigation Team member! I do stuff like this all the time. And with this Aura Glass, I can even track down that thief for you."

"Alright." Their leader said. "But I'm coming too. As leader of Lava Lava Island, it's my duty to protect the citizens!"

"Okay, if you're sure…"

Aamira and Grovyle woke up and the first thing they noticed was the band of pirates surrounding them. They were on a beach somewhere, but the location didn't matter. Walrein and his crew discovered them while they were trying to escape and immediately gave chase. And now they were captured again. Aamira was getting ready to fight her way out if she could, but Grovyle looked as if he had given up.

"Now, let's not be hasty." Walrein said. "Last time, we got of on the wrong foot. Or flipper in my case. But I started thinking and then I thought that you might not even know the whole story behind this."

Aamira lowered her guard a bit. "Actually I don't have a clue what's going on…"

Walrein laughed. "You mean you've been helping this guy all this time and you don't even know what's going on? Well let's just say that that Chatot makes a much better first mate than that Grovyle does!"

"What…?" Aamira turned to Grovyle.

"It's… It's true…" He said.

"Yea that's right." Walrein said. "He was my best crew member. But he's nothing but a lowly little thief. He stole that emerald amulet from me. When I found out I attacked him, but he escaped with just those scars."

"That part's a lie!" Grovyle said. "That amulet never belonged to you, and I don't know why you want it so badly, but you're never getting it!"

"Why wouldn't I want something back that belonged to me!" Walrein said. "I suppose he told you that 'someone special gave it to me' story, didn't he? He's just been trying to suck up to you so you would help him!"

Aamira looked at Grovyle in shock then turned back to Walrein. "It's just an emerald. You probably have a lot more stuff than that. So why do you want that amulet back so much?"

"I'm vengeful. All pirates are. We're thieves so naturally we don't like to be stolen from. And all he would have had to do is give me that amulet and then things could go back to normal for him. You know where he hid it, don't you?"

"He left it with a friend of mine…"

"Aamira!" Grovyle shouted, but she ignored it.

Aamira clenched her fists. "And you made him sink to the bottom of the sea along with that ship, you dirty, rotten, liar!"

Grovyle looked at her, surprised.

Walrein laughed. "So you never bought my story for a moment, didn't you? It doesn't surprise me. And you would definitely make a good pirate. You have the perfect personality for it. You don't take anything from anyone, you've got that vicious temper, you're vengeful, and you see through deception as easily as air. Not to mention your strength and will to never give up the second you decide to do something."

Aamira saw what he was trying to do; either get her worked up, or make her think about if all that stuff he was saying was true. While that probably would have worked before, she knew how to see through a trick like that as easily as a lie now. But that still didn't change the fact that they were surrounded. Then Aamira realized; Walrein was just toying with them.

"Aamira!"

Grovyle and Aamira turned to see Quill and another, smaller Cyndaquil with a darker colored fur and a feather around his head, jump through the bushes on the edge of the beach.

"That must be the pokemon that the Cyndaquil back in the village mentioned." The smaller Cyndaquil said, pointing to Grovyle. "Yea, I'm sure about it. He doesn't match the color description, but he's definitely the same type of pokemon that came to our island some years ago."

"Oh, that's Grovyle. I mentioned him earlier, remember? Don't worry about him; he's a good guy." Quill said. "And the other pokemon with him is my friend Aamira."

"We can do with the introductions and everything later." Aamira said. "In case you haven't noticed, we're surrounded by a band of pirates!"

Walrein looked over and Quill and roared. "He's got the amulet! Get him!"

All of the pokemon attacked at once, but then another pokemon jumped out of the trees in a surprise attack and in one attack defeated all of the pokemon except for Walrein.

The mini Cyndaquil hid behind Quill. "That's it! That pokemon is the thief!"

It was another Grovyle, but this one was different. Unlike most other Grovyle, this one looked something like a tree during the fall. She looked at the little Cyndaquil confused for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, now I know what you mean. I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding. But as the Riolu said, we'll do introductions and everything else later."

"Autumn…" Grovyle said under his breath.

"It's been too long…" She said simply. "I can't wait to fight along side you like we used to… And luckily it seems we don't have to wait for that."

"Traitors! Both of you!" Walrein growled at them.

"I've had enough running and fighting, Walrein." Grovyle said. "Just give up now; there's no way you can win. It's five against one. Two of us are former pirates, from your crew, in fact, and you yourself said that this Riolu acted like a pirate herself."

"And believe me." Autumn said. "You do NOT want to mess with these Cyndaquil."

Walrein looked around at all of them. "Fine! I know when I'm beat. But don't think this doesn't mean I won't be back."

Autumn walked over and stood next to Grovyle. "You really think you can defeat us when we're together?"

Walrein growled, then went into the ocean and swam out towards his ship.

"Great, he left all of these guys here." Autumn said, referring to his unconscious crew members.

At that moment, Chatot woke up and noticed his captain leaving and flew out towards the ship. "Hey! Wait for me!"

"We should probably help these guys out though, shouldn't we?" Quill asked.

"So bighearted!" the mini Cyndaquil said. "I knew size didn't matter; you're still a brother and you act like one too!"

"Looks like story time's going to be somewhat lengthy…" Aamira said. "Well we know our stories at least. Grovyle and I were captured, we escaped, and were followed here. Walrein sank the ship, Quill somehow ended up here, and found us. But I think the two of you have a bit of explaining to do…"

"It's unavoidable, I guess…" Autumn said. "But can I have my amulet back now?"

Quill took the amulet from around his neck and handed it to her.

Back at the mini Cyndaquil's house, Grovyle got to telling his part of the story. "A few years back I was sailing out at sea with my grandpa. There was a bad storm that came that night and I fell overboard. It was so horrible that my grandpa didn't even realize. The waves tossed me all over. I thought for sure that I was going to drown, but then I woke up on Walrein's ship. I didn't know what I could do after that, so I became a member of his crew. Autumn was already a member of his crew at the time, but she didn't like it much.

"One night I caught her getting one of the life boats ready. I begged her not to leave, but she said that she couldn't stay there anymore. But then she gave me that emerald pendant and said that it had been handed down from one person to the next in her family for generations and it was pretty much a part of her because of it. So as long as I had it with me, we would meet again. And when we did, we could explore together and not have to worry about Walrein.

"I didn't want to leave. Walrein had saved me and became somewhat like a father. But the things Autumn said started to get to me. I started wonder if I really did want to be there. Walrein got a little annoyed with me looking at the amulet all the time. One day he had enough and told me to either give it to him or throw it into the sea. When I refused, he attacked me. I ended up with these scars on my eye, and I fell over the side of the ship. He thought I'd drowned but I survived somehow. At that point I realized I'd rather be doing anything than being a member of his crew. When he found out about that, he became even more infuriated than before and came after me time and time again. But I always managed to get away somehow."

"I knew he was lying!" Aamira said, though she still couldn't help but think about what Walrein said about her being like a pirate.

"Okay, so that explains what happened to you." The mini Cyndaquil said. "But a few years ago, didn't you steal from our island?" He asked Autumn.

"It wasn't me. It was someone else. I started to get worried about the thefts when everyone started thinking I was responsible, so one day I went off to search the island, but I didn't find anything for a long time. Then one night I heard a couple of pokemon talking and hid so I could watch them. One of them was standing in the dark so I don't know what it was. The other was in the moonlight, but I couldn't make out the shape of it. It seemed to be just a shadow."

Aamira and Quill exchanged nervous glance.

"Then I noticed a third pokemon that was tied up. I recognized it of the wife of the tribe's leader. But the two other pokemon seemed to be arguing over it. The one in the dark, I remember, didn't really seem to be sure what they were doing or why they were doing it. The shadowy one said that if they could get the leader to come with them, they could find 'it'. Whatever 'it' was. After that they sent a ransom note. The leader came looking, but I found him before he ran into the other two. Having skills from previously being a pirate, I was also able to get his wife out of there without the shadowy pokemon and the pokemon that was standing in the dark noticing. We found a secret path through the volcano and the three of us somehow ended up in Ignis. From what I hear, the leader's wife, though it pained her to do so, left to go back home so she wouldn't somehow put her husband in danger again. I think by 'home' she meant the place she lived before she ended up on Lava Lava Island."

"Oh, that's right." The mini Cyndaquil said. "She wasn't a Cyndaquil. It was such a small detail that a lot of people forgot about it."

"Is it just me, or does that shadow keep showing up?" Quill asked.

"It does sort of seem like it." Aamira said. "Oh, I just remembered. What about Lucario's letter?"

Quill looked through his bag and pulled it out. "Wow. Talk about luck. It's not smudged or anything from the seawater. But why did you bring this up?"

"I don't know." Aamira took the letter from Quill. "It was just a feeling I had when we were talking about the shadow and the other pokemon…. Oh why didn't I see it before! This is so simple! These aren't words; they're just letters in groups of four. They make up words, but there's a space after every fourth letter, get it?"

"Why didn't we see that?" Quill got out a pencil and his notebook from his bag and handed them to Aamira. "Can you figure out what it says?"

"No problem now that I know what it is." When Aamira was done decoding it, this is what it said:

You don't have to worry about the homework, instead watch out for the kidnappers; they're closer than many realize. I worry for the safety of all the pokemon in the country of Sylva. I cannot explain now; there are some things that are worrying me. Don't trust anyone, not even those closest to you. Watch for a pattern in the kidnappings and you may find the answer.

"You just happened to think of this letter when we were talking about the shadow?" Quill said.

"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Aamira said. "Whoever, or whatever, this shadow is and the other pokemon must be the kidnappers! A shadow appeared when Meganium disappeared, a shadow was seen when Team Rapids disappeared… Out of all the disappearances we've looked at so far, it does seem like it keeps showing up. Come to think of it, wasn't there a couple of shadowy figures seen when Charmeleon escaped from prison? It might have been the other pokemon that was hiding in the dark."

"You think they had something to do with that?" Quill said. "Actually, since we're heading to Ignis to investigate a disappearance, maybe it would be a good idea to ask Charmeleon about that."

"Didn't you say there was a secret path in the volcano that leads to Ignis?" Aamira asked Autumn.

"Yea, I can show you. I think I want to help investigate this after being accused as a thief and a kidnapper." Autumn said.

"Count me in too." Grovyle said. "We're finally back together, so we're not about to split up, plus I was paid in advance to get the two of you to Ignis. Though I'm not sure how long we'll be able to stay since it's a fire pokemon country."

So after many goodbyes from the Cyndaquil, and the former pirate crew since they were pretty much stranded there, the four of them headed towards the volcano. It seemed amazing that she had somehow found that path when she was a grass type and it was deep in a volcano. When they got to Ignis some few hours later, they found themselves in Ember City, where Charmeleon apparently lived.

Lucky for them, Charizard was flying around and noticed the four of them. He landed immediately. "It's about time you got here. You're here to investigate the disappearance, aren't you?"

"Yea." Aamira said. "And we think we might already have a lead, but we have to talk with Charmeleon before we start on the mission."

Charizard looked around nervously. "Didn't Mismagius tell you? Charmeleon IS the missing pokemon!"


	27. Chapter 27 The Shadow Appears

Charizard had given them a place to stay the day before. They had spent the whole day and night thinking about the kidnappings. 

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Quill said. "We thought we might have had a lead but then Charmeleon ends us being the one that disappears." 

"No point in moping about it." Aamira was packing a few things into her bag. 

Quill, who had still been laying on his bed, jumped to his feet. "Where are you going?" 

"You remember Ninetales, don't you?" Aamira asked. 

"Of course I do. She was in that tournament." 

"Well last night when I was thinking, I remembered that time you got sick. When I got there Ninetales was looking through a book trying to find a cure for that disease that you had. She seemed kind of frustrated about it because she couldn't find a cure. I started wondering about why she could be so frustrated and I though that it must have either been just simply because you were dying or she couldn't find an answer when she normally could. So if Ninetales would have normally been able to figure out the answer to something like that…" 

"Then she might be able to give us some clues on the disappearances!" Quill said excitedly.

"Apparently she spends all of her time at the library. I wouldn't have thought that the country of fire would have had a library though, just because their fire would make it inconvenient." 

At the library they found Flareon knocking on a door in the very back. 

"We need to get in some training! Rapidash already left, so let's go already!" She shouted.

"After I'm done with my research!" Ninetales said from inside the back room. 

Flareon sighed. "Yea, how much longer should that take?" She turned to leave and saw Team Sleuth standing there. "Oh, it's you two." 

"Hey it's been a while." Quill said. 

"It feels like it, doesn't it?" Flareon said. "But it's really only been about a week, you know?" 

"We hadn't really been paying attention." Aamira said. "We need to talk to Ninetales, though. We need her help investigating the disappearances though." 

"Whenever she finds something to research then she doesn't stop until she finds an answer. Lucky for you, she's trying to figure out how you were able to cure Quill's disease, so getting her to talk to you shouldn't be too big of a problem." 

"Did I here you say Quill was here?" Ninetales opened the door so quickly that she hit Flareon. "Oh, I'm sorry, Flareon." She looked over at Quill and Aamira. "Oh, you're both here! How great!" 

"We need your help with something." Quill said. "You heard about Charmeleon, right?" 

"Oh, of course I did." Ninetales headed back into the room and came back with a black notebook. "I'm the record keeper for both Ignis and Special Services. This book is filled with all of the pokemon that have gone missing. Their names, where they come from, what they do for a living, everything is in here." 

"You're really going to give it to us?" Quill said. 

"If one of you can tell me how Aamira cured that disease you had." 

"I didn't cure it." Aamira said. "Suicune said that Quill's aura was what kept the disease from affecting him, but when Suicune used my aura to come back to life, he used Quill's too because our aura is so similar. And since our aura is similar I was able to get his back to normal and the disease didn't effect him anymore." 

"Yea, that makes sense… Oh I think there's something in my great, great grandmother's diary about this!" She handed the book filled with the missing pokemon to Aamira, went back into the back room, and slammed the door. 

"I HATE it when she gets like this!" Flareon said. "Either way, you know that book's reliable since Ninetales made it." She sighed and left the library. 

Aamira and Quill went back to their room to look at the book. 

"Look at all of these pokemon that have gone missing!" Quill said. "This is horrible!" 

"I can't believe they haven't found any clues at all." Aamira flipped through the first few pages of the book, and then stopped suddenly. "Roy!" 

"What!" Quill looked at it. Sure enough, it was Roy. "Why him? He's always so nervous! If he was kidnapped, he must have been scared half to death." 

Aamira looked up at the ceiling. 'Wouldn't they all be? I hope they're okay… What would they be doing now?' 

"Aamira." 

"Huh?" 

"There are a lot of people in here that we know. Roy, Charmeleon, Crystal, that Swablu nurse from Divum, Team Rapids, of course, Wurmple, that Ditto that impersonated Vespiquen, Tal the Mime Jr., Frosslass, Togepi…" 

"Eleven of the people we know have disappeared? Not that I'm all that sympathetic for Team Rapids and Ditto, but still!" Aamira pulled at her ears. "How are we ever going to find a pattern in all of these kidnappings with all of these people that went missing?" 

"I haven't the slightest idea…" Quill said. 

The door to their room suddenly burst open and Flareon came running in. "You've got to do something! Those two Grovyle you came here with…" 

"Don't say anything else just show us where they are." Aamira said quickly. 

Flareon led them to a deserted part of the town. Out near the ocean Grovyle was knocked out cold on the beach. Autumn was still awake and coming towards them was the shadow. Without a doubt it was the same one that Aamira and Quill had seen before. 

Autumn glanced over at them as she backed away from the shadow a little more. "Aamira! Quill! Help! Grovyle's down." 

The shadow glanced over in their direction. The only thing they could see was its eyes. Its eyes widened and it sped towards them, completely having forgotten about Autumn. Aamira shrieked as it sped towards them. She instinctively threw and Aura Sphere at it and fell backwards, but the shadow had disappeared before the Aura Sphere had even come close. 

"Are you alright!" Flareon asked Aamira.

Aamira just nodded, still wide eyed and couldn't breathe. Why had the shadow scared her that much? 

"Let's get out of here!" Autumn said frantically. It had scared her too. 

Grovyle had woken up a few hours later in Ember City's hospital. He said that he heard the shadow mumbling something in a language he didn't know and then he thought he saw a Skarmory attack Autumn and he was too scared to do anything. 

"It was an illusion." Aamira said. "That's the same thing that happened with Sceptile, an Investigation Team member from Sylva. He thought he saw Charmeleon attack his friend Meganium. Wait, so that must mean that Meganium was kidnapped!" 

"Now we know why Sceptile's been lost in thought lately…" Quill said. 

"But why did it kidnap Meganium and why did it try to kidnap Autumn just now?" Aamira looked at the emerald pendant that Autumn was still wearing. Then she took out the book that Ninetales had given them and started flipping through it. "Roy had his sapphire pendant, Wurmple had a ruby, and an Aerodactyl who apparently came from Ignis had a topaz amulet. Autumn, you didn't have your amulet the first time you went to Lava Lava Island, did you? You probably got lucky back then." 

"You really think so?" Autumn looked at her amulet. "Sometimes I think this thing is more trouble than it's worth, but my mom gave it to me before I became a pirate. She said, 'just follow your heart and you'll never go wrong, no matter what you decide to do.'" 

"Four people, all with gems, and three we know for sure had gems that were passed down in their families."

"Aerodactyl's was too." Charizard said. "I'm sorry that you all got put in danger because of this."

"It was bound to happen." Quill said. 

"I think it's probably best that you two head back to Sylva." He said. "I don't think there's much more you can do here." 

"We'll stay." Grovyle said. "I know I speak for both of us when I say we're worried about the pokemon on this island and don't want anything to happen." 

Autumn nodded. "I'd just like to see that shadow sneak up on us next time!" 

Charizard was able to get a boat for Grovyle so he could sail Aamira and Quill back to the mainland. After that they met a couple of Pelliper like they did before and they flew back to Sylva. 

Quill looked over his shoulder. He felt like they should have done more, and knew that Aamira felt the same way, but there wasn't much else that they could have done and they both knew it. So, from their visit, they got a book with all of the missing pokemon in it, and their two new friends got attacked by the apparent kidnapper. The two of them had never felt as useless as they did at that moment. 

The Pelliper landed outside of town hall. By that time, it was already dark outside. Noctowl was there with Mismagius, Haunter, Machop, and a Nuzleaf and Bayleef. 

"Aren't you Nuzleaf's parents?" Quill asked. 

"Yes." Queen Bella, the Bayleef said. "After what happened earlier today, we don't think it's safe to stay in the castle anymore so we came here." 

"What happened?" Aamira asked nervously, already with an idea of what had happened. 

"He's disappeared…" Noctowl said. "And that shadow appeared again."

"Wow it moves fast…" Aamira said. "We think that shadow might be responsible for all of the kidnappings." 

"It seems to show up a lot whenever someone disappears." Quill said. 

Mismagius sighed. "I didn't want to do this, but I think it might be best if we headed over to special services headquarters early. Only one person has disappeared around there and that's when both Lucario and I had left. I doubt it will happen again if I go back." 

"So you're leaving?" Quill asked. 

"I'm afraid so. And if you two are still interested in joining, I wouldn't mind you coming along tomorrow if you wanted to. Especially after that shadow almost attacked you while you were in Ignis." 

"How did you know about that?" Aamira asked. 

"News spreads quickly. And I have eyes everywhere, if you know what I mean." 

"Oh yea. Ninetales was a member of special services and we were with one of her team members when that shadow showed up." 

"Exactly." 

"Of course we'll come along!" Quill said. "It's our best chance of figuring this out, isn't it?"

"I really appreciate all of your help. And not just yours; many other Investigation Teams have been helping too. I'm sure we'll figure this out eventually." 

Quill and Aamira headed back to their Treehouse for what might be the last time. It normally would have been a bitter sweet moment, but the two of them both had too many things on their minds. Quill was talking to Machop and Haunter about what happened in Ignis and Machop and Haunter told him about their mission with Mismagius. 

"It was great going home for a while." Haunter said. "Mismagius had no idea that the actual dungeon was underground. She seemed pretty excited for some reason when we got to the end of the dungeon." 

"And when we got back, we found out that Nuzleaf had vanished." Machop seemed to be the most upset about Nuzleaf disappearing. "But on the bright side I don't have as much competition."

"You mean for Aamira?" Quill laughed. "Good luck!" 

Aamira was flipping through the book of the missing pokemon and trying her hardest to ignore them.

"You don't think she'll fall for me?" Machop said. "Why not?" 

"Well I'm not saying that you won't…" Quill said to Aamira. 

"That's what I'm saying…" Aamira said without looking up from the book. Haunter laughed and did a few turns in the air. 

"But if you do, it probably won't last long." 

Aamira slammed the book shut and sat up. "What do you mean by that?" 

"I can feel your emotions, remember?" Quill said. "Let's see, there was Sceptile, Charmeleon, Nuzleaf at one point…" 

"You've got to be kidding!" Machop yelled. 

"And a more recent crush…" Quill smirked. "Lucario…" 

Aamira turned red and looked at Quill in surprise. Haunter started laughing more than usual and spinning in the air. Quill screamed as Aamira used Aura Sphere, but he was able to dodge it fairly easily.

"What's going on up here?" Espeon climbed up their tree and climbed through the window. "Quill starting to act more like a little brother?" 

Aamira was still blushing and still looked slightly agitated. 

Espeon laughed. "I guess that answers my question! I feel your pain. Try having six siblings, though. That's when the real fights break out." 

"It might just be because she's the only girl on the team!" Haunter laughed again. "Poor Aamira's all alone aside from two people who constantly fight over her, someone who can read her emotions, and me. Of course I wouldn't even count myself since I'm always in my room."

"Anyway," Espeon interrupted, "Charizard found something in Charmeleon's room that seemed a little out of place. Since him and Aamira had become such good friends, he thought that maybe she had given it to him." Espeon handed Aamira an old looking wooden box.

"What's this, a music box?" Aamira opened it for a second. "Well it doesn't sound nearly as old as it looks."

"I'm guessing from the look on your face that you don't know anything about it." Espeon turned to leave. "Well since Delibird went through all the trouble to get it to you, I guess you might as well keep it." Espeon left and all of the Team Sleuth members looked at the music box. 

"Who would have guessed it?" Machop said. "Charmeleon's tough on the outside but a big softie on the inside." 

Aamira ignored him and opened the music box again and started humming to it. 

"You sure you don't know anything about it?" Quill asked. "You seem to know the song well enough." 

"The song's familiar." Aamira admitted. "But… I'm not to sure about the music box. Where would I have gotten something like this anyway? Where did Charmeleon even get it?" 

"Seriously, when he first battled us as an outlaw I never would have guessed he had something like this."

Machop snickered. "Hey Aamira, is it true that you almost joined him and became an outlaw yourself?"

Aamira closed the lid on the music box and set it down. "You know as well as any of us that I was acting so we could defeat Charmeleon! I would never become an outlaw!" 

"And besides," Quill said, "I bet she was too interested in what Charmeleon said about Lucario and Riolu vanishing to—" 

"Vanishing?" Aamira looked at the book that she had set down on the table. "If it was just… Those pokemon weren't…" Before even explaining what she was mumbling about Aamira ran to the ladder and out of their Treehouse.

"Hey, hold on!" Not entirely knowing what was going on, Quill followed. 

Quill wasn't sure where Aamira might have went, but he had a feeling she would be at Town Hall. Inside Town Hall, Aamira, Mismagius, and Alakazam were talking nervously. 

Mismagius shook her head. "No, I haven't heard anything from Lucario. I didn't worry about it before just because he sometimes disappears for a while without telling anyone where he's going. But I don't understand why he wouldn't send any messages while he's on an important mission." 

"Why are you worried about Lucario all of a sudden?" Quill asked. "Lucario and Riolu have been disappearing for a long time, and Lucario is one of the greatest Investigators in history." 

"It was only Riolu and Lucario in the beginning." Alakazam said. "They prefer to live in secret so it wasn't even noticed at first. Everyone thought they were just dying out. No one could have imagined that the ones responsible for the Lucario and Riolu disappearances could also be responsible for the other disappearances." 

Quill looked into his eyes. He knew exactly what Alakazam was thinking. 'And what are the odds that a human would have shown up here and just happened to have turned into a Riolu?'

"I don't mean to be overprotective or anything, but I'm suddenly a little worried." Mismagius turned away from everyone. "Lucario would hate it if I suddenly showed up while he's on that mission, but there is a chance that he might have disappeared. Oh, what should I do?" 

"We'll help you look for him and then you can blame it on me if it's okay." Aamira said. "After all it would sort of be my fault for causing a panic."

Mismagius turned back around. "No! Absolutely not! It's too dangerous even for your team. In the morning the two of you will just have to head for special services headquarters by yourselves." 

"Mismagius." Quill said in a pleading voice. "Aamira has only met one other Lucario before and he didn't really act like a Lucario. She just feels especially worried about Lucario because of that." 

"Did she really tell you all of that?" Mismagius asked. 

"I didn't need to." Aamira said. "Quill can feel all of my emotions when no one else can, no matter how far away from each other we seem to get. And I don't think we'd be any safer here or at special services headquarters!" 

Mismagius smiled for a minute then sighed. "Fine. If you're really that determined. But only if you get fully prepared before you leave. Spend as much time doing whatever you need to do to get ready."

Quill shouted in excitement and Aamira sighed out of relief. 

Both of the main members of the team were gone. One of them the shadow had abducted, the other two were no problem; the shadow had simply just put them to sleep with a sleeping draught for a while. Normally it would have taken them like the others, but it had come so close now that any slight mistakes might scare them off. Not that it would be that much of a problem, but it would be a lot easier for them to walk right into the shadow's trap then for the shadow to risk revealing its identity trying to capture them. One day, perhaps, but it was too soon for anyone to know at the time. 

'The first time I saw you at Shroud Lake.' The shadow thought as it snuck into Aamira's room. 'I knew the second I saw you and your little friend that you two were the ones I have been hunting all this time. The way those little kids all looked up to the two of you… and your aura, of course. It was without a doubt…' 

The shadow looked around, not really sure what it was looking for. Then it saw something on Aamira's desk; the translation of the coded message that Lucario had sent them. A couple of things stood out in particular to the shadow. 

"I cannot explain now; there are some things that are worrying me. Don't trust anyone, not even those closest to you." The shadow laughed. "I wonder if any of them have figured it out yet… This might complicate things a little…" 

The shadow slipped back into Machop's room and gave him the cure for the sleeping draught then did the same for Haunter. By the time each of them had woken up, the shadow was gone.


	28. Chapter 28 The Abandoned Banette

After they had been walking for a while, Mismagius stopped and turned to Aamira and Quill. "I really didn't want it to come to this. I was hoping that Lucario and I could pull it off without having to tell anyone, but, to tell you the truth, we really need your help." 

"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Quill asked. 

"I didn't want to sound desperate in front of anyone like Noctowl or Alakazam. It would have worried them too much. The only thing that keeps people calm in these situations is to know that everything is under control, but in reality it's far from it. And neither of you really know the story."

"Is it really so bad that you need our help?" Aamira asked. 

"I'm afraid so. And unfortunately asking for help at this point is risky…" Mismagius showed them a letter written in a strange font that they had never seen. There were only four words on it: Don't look for help. 

"Okay, so what exactly is going on?" Aamira asked suspiciously. 

Mismagius sighed. "Lucario and I don't come from around here, as you know. But the truth is, we come from an entirely different world." 

Quill and Aamira looked at each other uncertainly, wondering what they had gotten themselves into.

"I know, it's a bit unbelievable, but just hear me out on this. Thousands of years ago there were disappearances a lot like the ones now, but the king who ruled over the world that we come from found the shadow that was causing the disappearances. He was able to seal the shadow in a special staff. It then became the duty of every king after to guard the staff to make sure the shadow never escaped again. But the shadow still had followers after it was sealed away. They made sure that their descendants knew what happened to the shadow. Most importantly, they made sure to tell them that if the current king had no one to pass the thrown to when he died, the shadow would be freed. So the disappearances started again, starting with all in the royal line. Maybe you've guessed it by now, but they were all Lucario."

"So that's why they all started disappearing." Quill said. "If there was a chance that one of the Lucario in this world could be the next king, they would want to get rid of them too…" 

"Yes, but you might have noticed that not all of them had disappeared. Only Lucario with a certain aura can become the king, and only a Lucario with that aura has the power to seal the shadow back into the staff." 

"When we were in Ignis and the shadow showed up, it stared at me like it was surprised or scared or something. Then it came towards us, but disappeared when I threw an Aura Sphere at it." 

"You got lucky. The aura of the king is really specific and unlike any other aura. I sensed it as soon as I met you that you have that aura. Lucario even agreed that it's the same when I asked him. The shadow, though it's trying to do all it can to get rid of any Riolu or Lucario with that aura, is terrified of that aura. When you used Aura Sphere, you scared it off." 

"So Aamira's royalty?" Quill asked. "That's kinda cool, even if there's a shadow after us."

"But that's not possible, I…" Aamira stopped herself from saying anything. "Well how could I be a king anyway? I'm a girl." 

"Well, we live in a really old fashioned kingdom. Basically, it's just whoever's in charge is called the king, so there have been a lot of girl kings before. But either way, I doubt you would be next in line. In fact, a lot of people even think it might be Lucario." 

"Wait, what do you mean they 'think' he might be?" Aamira asked. "I thought their aura was special and you can tell when someone's royalty." 

"Well, that's just it. Lucario's aura is similar, but it's a bit different too. No one's really sure about Lucario; no one's even really sure where he comes from. He just showed up one day as a Riolu, apparently recently hatched, so I took care of him ever since." 

Aamira remembered what Lucario had said once. 'I constantly let my emotions get the better of me, I'm always suspicious of everyone, and I wasn't even raised by a family of Lucario or Riolu.' Now she finally understood. 

"There I go, getting ahead of myself again." Mismagius said casually. "So where was I? Oh, right. So the Shadow was working as hard as it could to get rid of any Lucario from the royal line. I was a friend of the former king, so I was put in charge for the time until we could find the true king. I had hoped that it was Lucario, but his aura doesn't seem right. There's something different about it. 

"A while back when Lucario and I were trying to track the shadow down, we got that message saying 'don't look for help' which made us think that maybe it was getting scared, but then it moved to this world. It had tried to take over our world before, starting with all of the disappearances, but for some reason it seems to have set its sights on this world. By 'don't look for help' we figured that it might have meant not to tell anyone in this world what was really going on. That's why neither of us had ever mentioned anything to anyone until it got too serious.

"Some time ago we got a tip off of where the shadow's hideout might be. Though Lucario's aura isn't perfect, it's still close enough to the royal aura to perhaps defeat the shadow. The thing is, Lucario doesn't really know that his aura is different. He still thinks that he might be able to stop the shadow though. So he kept saying that if either of us should go it ought to be him. I finally gave in and that's where he went off to. But as dangerous as this mission is, I would think that he would send a message every now and then to let everyone know that he's still alright." 

"So he might really be in trouble." Aamira said. 

"There's something I've been wondering about though." Quill said. "If you come from a different world, how are we supposed to get there?" 

"Have you ever heard of a place called Dark Rift?" 

Quill suddenly got really stiff as if he were scared out of his mind. 

"I've never heard of it." Aamira said. 

Quill turned to her and looked at her like she was crazy. "You've never heard of it? It's the most terrifying place in the world! No one even lives near there any more because they're too scared! They say that eerie lights come from it at night and they can hear voices of people who lived a hundred years ago screaming up at them. And no matter how the light shines on it in the daytime, you can't see the bottom. It's just eternal darkness all the way down." 

Mismagius laughed a little. "Oh that's just what the pokemon of my world want you to think. They made up all those stories so that our world wouldn't be discovered by accident. The only thing true about that is the darkness. Ever since that shadow first showed up, morning stopped coming. None of the pokemon that live their today know what the light it like, so they might even be scared of the two of you. That is, if you still want to go." 

"Well I do." Aamira said. "Lucario might be in trouble, and now that we know the whole story it's not like we'd be any safer anywhere else." 

"Yea, you're right." Quill said. "And besides, this would mean that we would be the first ones from this world to explore that world. Who knows what could happen?" 

"Well that's what I'm afraid of…" Mismagius said. "But like I said, we really need help and since you still want to come along, I see no reason in us turning back."

Later that night, and halfway across the country from where they had started, they arrived at Dark Rift. Like Quill had said, there was an eerie light coming from somewhere deep in the rift, but no voices were heard. 

"There's a ledge a few feet down. Normally I can just float down, but since neither of you can, I guess we're taking the long way." Mismagius floated down to the ledge a few feet down. 

Quill and Aamira followed carefully. To their surprise, Dark Rift was actually a dungeon. As they might have guessed because of its name, it was filled with all sorts of dark type pokemon. The most common were Poochyena and Mightyena, but other than that were Murkrow, Houndour, Sableye, Absol, Stunky, and Skuntank. 

Mismagius seemed to be perfectly at home in there, in spite of her disadvantage. Quill and Aamira wondered if that's what her world really looked like, but decided just to find out for themselves. 

The end of the dungeon seemed like a dead end. Then they realized that most of the bottom floor of the dungeon was a huge lake, hidden in the darkness. 

"This place is called Dark Lake." Mismagius said. "This is the way into my world, but getting back to this world is tricky. It's not like you can just go back home whenever you want." 

"That doesn't matter; we said we would help you and Lucario out so we will!" Quill turned to Aamira. "Right?" 

Aamira nodded. 'Since when was Quill THIS brave?' 

"Alright then. Just step onto the lake and you'll be teleported into my world." 

Quill didn't look quite as brave anymore because of his fear of water. But either way, the two of them walked onto the water which, for some reason, they didn't sink into. But then towards the center of the lake, it felt like something had grabbed their legs and was pulling them down into the water. It didn't feel like water though; it felt cold, and that was really all it felt like. 

At first the two of them struggled against it, but then Mismagius came over to them. "Don't fight it." Then she also started sinking into the water. 

When Aamira was about up to her neck in the water, the cold finally got to her and she blacked out.

The first thing Aamira noticed was some voices. One of them was Mismagius, and the other she didn't recognize. With a tremendous amount of willpower, Aamira was able to open her eyes. Then she shakily forced herself into a sitting position. 

Mismagius was talking to a Honchkrow. Both of them looked worried. 

Mismagius turned to Aamira for a second and noticed that she was awake. "Oh, I'm sorry. How long have you been awake?" 

"A few seconds…" Aamira said drowsily. 

Mismagius frowned. "I see… Then you wouldn't know about what happened to Lucario…"

All of Aamira's energy seemed to return at once. "What? What happened?" 

"He was captured by the shadow. Just like we expected, it was a trap." Mismagius gave her a note written in the same font as earlier. 

"Lucario is now my prisoner, your kingdom is virtually defenseless. Never again will I be sealed in the crystal, for Lucario's student will be next. Then I will be free to roam all worlds with nothing to stop me again, and then all worlds will be mine." 

Quill woke up and sat up. "What's going on?" 

Without even looking over at him, Aamira handed him the message. Quill read it and he started shaking as if he were still in the water. 

"So what should we do?" Honchkrow asked. Quill and Aamira looked at Mismagius. 

Mismagius looked around at all of them. She looked more worried than Quill and Aamira had ever seen her. She sighed. "What else can we do? For now… I think it might be best to head back to the kingdom. Then we'll try to come up with a plan to stop the shadow before it's too late. I'm sorry, you two… If only that message had come a little earlier, you two wouldn't be stuck here with nothing to do." 

"That's alright." Aamira said. "I guess we'll just stick around until we can do something." 

"I'll tell the council." Honchkrow flew off and disappeared. 

This was the first time that Aamira and Quill had really paid any attention to where they were. Everything was dark. Overhead in the sky were dark clouds that didn't seem to have moved in years. The landscape was barren except for some dead trees and bushes. There were some mountains in the distance and in front of them was a castle with a large city surrounding it.

"We'll have to take the secret entrance into the castle." Mismagius said to them. "The less people who know the two of you are here, the better." 

The secret passage was underground, right outside of the city. They came out in the castle's basement. Aside from the basement, the rest of the castle looked really nice. It was lit by torches and covered in pictures of famous pokemon. Then Aamira realized something that had never occurred to her before; she had spent all of her time in an Investigation Team trying to learn about the world, and now she was in a different world where, once again, she didn't know anything. And yet, there was something that she liked about the castle. It felt, strangely enough, like a home to her. 

Mismagius led them up countless flights of stairs and through a maze of hallways before she stopped in front of a door. "This room has been vacant for some time now. I doubt anyone would suspect the two of you to be here." Mismagius turned to leave. "Anyway, make yourselves at home. I need to go take care of some things." 

Quill immediately walked over to the smaller bed that was in the room and laid down. "Wow, it's like this whole bed is a giant pillow…" 

"Well don't fall asleep. I get the feeling it's morning, even though it's so dark here." Aamira sat down on a bed. She noticed a doll laying on one of the pillows. "This room couldn't have been abandoned for too long." Aamira reached to pick up the doll, but before she could, its eyes opened. Aamira screamed and fell to the floor. 

Quill jumped off of his bed. "What is it?" 

Aamira pointed at the bed with a shaky finger. "That doll just moved! Its eyes were closed and then they shot open!" 

"That's crazy! It's not like dolls just come to life!" 

But then something appeared on the edge of the bed and waved at them. 

"Oh, it was a Banette that you saw!" Quill said. "What's it doing here, I wonder." 

"That's not the doll! It looked different." 

"Banette are said to be created from dolls when a child that really loved it gives it up or has to leave it behind. I guess that doll you saw really did move." 

The Banette jumped off the bed and started jumping happily in front of Aamira. It didn't say anything though, which somehow made it seem sort of cute. 

Quill laughed. "It likes you! I think maybe because so many Riolu lived here before, it might think you were the kid that left it here." 

Banette beckoned to them and led them to a table on the other side of the room. On top of it was a flower vase with a dead daisy in it. Banette jumped onto the table and took the daisy out of the vase, but frowned and put it back when one of the pedals fell off. It looked at Aamira guiltily. 

"Oh, it's not your fault that happened!" She said quickly. "That flower has probably been dead for a while now… Daisy?" 

The Banette jumped on the floor and started jumping up and down more excitedly than ever. 

"Like one of the Keckleon sisters? Is that really your name?" Quill asked. 

Daisy nodded again. 

"You know, ghost pokemon can be kind of confusing since you can't tell the males and females apart. The only real clue is their voice, but I don't think Daisy can talk." Aamira said.

Daisy frowned and her head fell onto her left shoulder. Then she ran towards a piano and started jumping on the piano bench. 

"Oh, you want me to play the piano?" Aamira asked. 

"Do you know how?" Quill asked. 

"Do I…? Yea, I think so. I learned how to play the piano before I lost my memory." Aamira sat down on the bench. Daisy sat on top of the piano and watched her. 

Aamira started playing. Daisy closed her eyes and started swaying her head to the sound of the music. 

"Oh, I get it." Quill said. "The person who used to live in this room could play the piano too, and you missed the sound of the music." 

Daisy frowned and nodded. 

"It would be a lot easier to play with a metronome." Aamira said to Daisy. 

Daisy ran off and disappeared. She came back a few seconds later holding a metronome. She put it on the piano and then sat on the top of the piano again. 

"Good thing Daisy doesn't learn the attack Metronome, or that would have been bad… Banette are notorious pranksters." Quill said. 

Daisy glared at him as if to say she knew better.

Aamira started playing again. It really did make a big difference with the metronome. She couldn't remember where she had learned the song or what it was called, but she liked it a lot.

While Aamira was playing the piano, Quill looked around their room some more. There was a picture of an old looking Lucario on one of the walls. Below the picture was a fire place, which Quill immediately rushed to light. 

Daisy noticed the fire after a few moments and jumped off of the piano and sat on the rug in front of the fireplace. There were two chairs in front of the fireplace also. Quill sat in one and Aamira stopped playing and came over and sat in the other. 

"I think I've had enough excitement to last for a while." Quill said after a while. "I wouldn't mind just sitting here for a while and looking into the fire." 

The shadows that the flames were making made Aamira feel a little drowsy. "You know what? Who cares what time of day it is? I bet pokemon in this world just sleep off and on whenever."

Daisy got up and started looking under Aamira's bed for something. After a while she pulled out a wooden box and ran back in front of the fire place. 

"Hey, that looks a bit like the music box Charmeleon had." Quill said. 

Daisy opened it. The song was even the same as the other music box. Something did seem different about it though; it seemed a bit older and the sound was more pure sounding than the other one. It reminded Aamira of the rain somehow. Aamira fell asleep without even getting up from the chair she was sitting in. After a while, the music had also lulled Quill to sleep.

Daisy couldn't talk, it was true, but she still could think like them. In her mind, she remembered how the child who had once owned her when she was a doll would play that music box whenever she wanted to get to sleep. Especially whenever it was storming. That child had even thought up words to the song and called it "Daisy's Song" because Daisy was always the one "person" that she could depend on.

Daisy sighed. 'There was a time we could go everywhere together. But then I was left here without warning and fell asleep for… I wonder how long it was…'


	29. Chapter 29 Aura Reader

"I need to go take care of some things." That seemed to be Mismagius's motto or something. 

It had already been a week since the two of them had come to the dark, depressing world where Mismagius and Lucario both came from. Lucario had been captured by the shadow, who was causing disappearances in both their world and the one they were in now. They thought they would at least be seeing Mismagius a lot, but she always seemed busy with who knows what. Every now and then one of her council members would come to see the two of them. Other than that they were pretty much alone except for their new friend, Daisy the Banette, who became their first team member in this new world. 

All three of them wished they could go outside, but Mismagius was afraid that the shadow might come after them or that the townspeople wouldn't trust them since they came from another world. Aamira spent a lot of time just looking out of the window, which took up most of the east wall. The window was supposed to be a special kind that you could see out of, but not in, so it was alright for her to stay next to the window all of the time. 

It had rained almost the whole time they were there. But the clouds never moved, and the sun or moon never came out. Aamira had always liked it at night, but she hated there not even being a moon or the stars in the sky. 

Daisy could always cheer the two of them up though. Since Daisy was once a doll, that was just what she did best. Even if she was now a ghost type pokemon. 

This night was different though. Aamira had felt it before she had even fallen asleep. 

Thunder clapped outside and Aamira woke up instantly and sat up in her bed. Daisy noticed and started playing the music box, which had helped Aamira get to sleep the past few nights, but Aamira hated storms like this. It had been raining for some time, but there had never actually been thunder and lightning up until now. 

Aamira got up and sat down in the chair by the window again. Daisy closed the music box and sat on the windowsill. The city below them looked like it was in a fog because of how hard it was raining. It was hard to even see the forest in the distance, which usually showed up clearly against the horizon. 

Aamira looked over at Quill. How could he be sleeping through this? He looked perfectly relaxed, all curled up asleep on his bed. 

Daisy tugged on Aamira's arm. Aamira turned around and saw Daisy staring out the window at the streets below. Aamira didn't think anyone would be out in this weather, but down in the street, a lone pokemon stood. Aamira backed away from the window a little, thinking it was staring up at her, but then remembered it couldn't be since no one could see through the window from the outside. Besides that, it was wearing a cloak, so it was hard to tell what it was looking at, especially in the rain. 

Aamira yawned. She was tired, so she decided to go back to sleep. 

The next morning it was still drizzling. 

Mismagius came in with Daisy following her. "I don't mind an extra pokemon hanging around, but could you make sure she doesn't get into any trouble? Just a while ago one of the council members caught her running around in the garden. She sure was doing a good job of scaring people." 

Daisy ran and hid behind Aamira. She never really cared much for other ghost type pokemon, which they noticed as soon as she met Mismagius the first time. 

"Daisy's like a little kid, you know that." Aamira said. "And kids can't just be locked in a room all day. We're all starting to get a little claustrophobic being stuck in the castle all the time." 

"I know, but you just can't go outside. Not now. More criminals are starting to show their faces, so to speak. Somehow word got out that the shadow is nearly undefeatable now, so more descendants of its followers are showing up. Including someone who's thought to be a descendant of Shade." 

"Who was Shade?" Quill asked. 

"I keep forgetting how little you two know about this. Shade was second in command. He wore a cloak so no one ever found out what kind of pokemon he was." 

'It couldn't have been that pokemon I saw last night…' Aamira thought. 

"Apparently, when the shadow was sealed inside the magic staff, all of his followers went into hiding and started to blend in with the rest of the pokemon. But Shade wouldn't stand for the defeat. He knew that if the royal line came to an end, the shadow could come back and would be unstoppable. He alone was the one responsible for the disappearance of so many Lucario and Riolu back then. But when he was finally caught, he disappeared before anyone could even find out what kind of pokemon he was. The day after he disappeared, a note appeared in the castle. It said that one day the shadow would return and his descendant will become Shade and take his place. Looks like it's finally happened…" 

"So there's someone almost as dangerous as that shadow that's going around also causing the disappearances?" Quill asked. "We could still help out, you know? If we're in danger and this shadow can slip in and out of places so easily, it would be better if we at least put up a fight and go out that way!" 

"Quill!" Mismagius was obviously shocked by Quill's uncharacteristic behavior. 

"Well what do you expect?" Aamira said. "We've been stuck here for a week and we haven't done a thing but lay around. That sounds like something I would normally say, but I'm not exaggerating when I say I've had to do everything I can to convince myself not to sneak out and just run off to who knows where!" 

Daisy jumped around angrily, but couldn't say anything. 

Mismagius looked at all of them shocked. "Weren't you listening to a thing I just said? It's too dangerous!" 

"And what's life without a little danger?" Quill asked. 

"Boring." Aamira replied.

"I can't believe you would want to risk your lives by going outside just to relieve boredom!"

"Risk our lives…" Quill repeated. "Even if we went outside, everything's basically over, right?" 

"There wouldn't be a problem with you two going outside if we only knew who was who! But the problem is, we don't. The enemy is everywhere!" 

"Exactly!" Aamira said. "You say that word just 'somehow' got out that the shadow is pretty much unstoppable now because Lucario disappeared. Just face it; inside or outside the castle, nowhere is safe!" 

"Then maybe it would be safer if you two were just locked in this one room all the time." Behind Mismagius, the door slammed shut and there was the sound of the lock clicking. "I had the feeling I would have to resort to this, though I really didn't want to. So while I figure out a way to get you two back to your world, and Daisy too I suppose, there will always be a guard outside of here for your own protection." Mismagius went through the door and disappeared. 

"Maybe we did go a little too far…" Quill said. "But I can't take much more of this. We're not even really supposed to be here." 

Aamira laid down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, now you know how I felt at first." 

"What do you mean?" Quill asked. 

"You found me that day by Shroud Lake. I couldn't remember anything about where I came from or even who I really was. True, I was given a place to stay right away, but of course I never belonged in your world. But I didn't have any choice in staying because I had nowhere else to go."

"I… I never knew…" Quill gave her an apologetic look. "And I guess I wasn't really making it easy for you…"

"But what does it really matter anyway?" Aamira asked. "People are always destined to live in one world their whole lives. I guess I was sort of given a good opportunity when I was able to come to your world. Technically I was able to live in two worlds even if I couldn't remember the first one. And now we're both in this one." 

"Yea, even if we're stuck here for now, we still have a place to go back to. And wherever it is that you come from, I'm sure you have a good place to go back to also." 

"But unless I can get my memory back, I'm not sure if I want to go back to my world." Aamira yawned. "I hate this though. It's always so dark here so I'm always tired." 

Daisy seemed to be a little anxious for some reason. Unlike the two of them, she wasn't really locked in. She looked back at Aamira and Quill for a second, then went through the door. 

Aamira slept for the rest of the day, or whatever time it really was. That night it stormed again and not even that could wake her up. 

Quill looked out the window. Where was Daisy? She still hadn't come back. What if something happened to her? Down in the street he noticed a lone pokemon in a cloak. It wouldn't have surprised him if it was Shade. 

"Why don't you come and fight us instead of just lurking in the shadows all the time?" Quill said under his breath.

The cloaked pokemon turned and started walking out towards the forest. Lightning flashed somewhere past the forest and by the time the light had faded, the cloaked pokemon was gone. 

Quill woke up the next morning from the light of the torches in the town below. That was the only real indication on when it was day or night, but it wasn't a good one since the rain could easily put the fire out. And even though the rain had stopped, the clouds were still in the same position they always were. 

Aamira was still asleep, which was weird since she usually woke up before him. After a few hours, Quill started to get worried and decided to wake her up. 

Aamira stared up at Quill for a moment. Her eyes were a strange color, but not too different from their regular color, so Quill figure that must be what they looked like when a Riolu's eyes were bloodshot. 

Aamira yawned. "Do we have any missions today…?" 

"We haven't been on a mission in a while. We're still in Mismagius's world, remember?" Quill said.

Aamira looked at him confused for a second then closed her eyes again. "Right, now I remember…" She yawned and rolled over. "Just let me sleep for a little longer… I'm really tired."

Quill walked over to the door and started knocking on it, hoping that the guard outside would open it. Luckily he did.

The guard at the time was a Gligar, who still looked pretty young. "What is it?" He asked. "You getting hungry or something?"

"No, Aamira's been asleep all day. I tried to wake her up, but she fell back to sleep right away." He said.

"Really?" Gligar walked over towards Aamira's bed and looked at her. "When exactly did she fall asleep?"

"I don't know, it's so hard to tell here. Around noon yesterday, I suppose." Quill said nervously. "This morning when I actually woke up before her, I thought she must be acting as a revolt or something, but when I woke her up her eyes were really bloodshot." 

"Alright, I'll try to find Mismagius. But don't leave this room or you're bound to be in big trouble then."

A few minutes later, Mismagius came into the room followed by Gligar. "Still asleep, huh?" She said in a worried voice.

Quill put his paw to her forehead for about the fifth time since Gligar left. "I don't think she had a fever or anything, but she's never been asleep for this long before…" 

"Why didn't I think of this?" Mismagius said. "Sometimes when pokemon are taken out of the environment they're used to, they can get really sick and no one will notice for a while. But what can we do? We still have no idea of when you can return to your world and there's nowhere like Vine City in this world." 

"There must be something you can do." Quill looked up at her hopefully. 

"I suppose it wouldn't do any more damage if you two went into the garden for a while." She said. "Like all of the other plants, the ones in the garden have been dead for quite some time, but it's the best I think we can do." 

Quill tried to wake Aamira up again. She yawned and buried her head in the pillow. 

"Come on!" Quill said. "You have to get up!" 

Aamira sat up and put her hand on her head.

"Are you alright?" Mismagius asked. 

"Yea, just a little dizzy…" Aamira replied. 

"Well come on!" Quill jumped off of the bed. "Mismagius said that we could go into the garden for a little while. Don't you think it would be nice to get outside for a while?" 

"Sure… I guess…" Aamira got out of bed and yawned. 

"Wow, her eyes really do look bloodshot…" Gligar said absentmindedly. 

Mismagius led the two of them out into the garden. It didn't look like much, the ground was dry and cracked in spite of all the rain, all of the plants were dead, and there was an old broken fountain in the center that was half filled with rain water, but it was pretty big. After a while, Aamira was wide awake again. What was supposed to be "a little while" turned into the whole day. They couldn't do as many things as they wanted, but it was nice just to be out in the fresh air again. Near the end of the day when the two of them had run out of things to do, they sat on a bench on the far side of the garden just to talk for a while. 

"I hope we can get back home soon." Aamira said absentmindedly. "I didn't notice when we first came here, but this world's a lot different." 

"What do you mean?" Quill asked. "Just look around. Of course it's different. Anyone could tell the difference." 

"It's not just that. Even the invisible here is different. I can feel it. Or rather, I can't feel it at all…"

"I still don't get what you mean…" 

Aamira yawned and sat back on the bench and fell asleep again. 

"Aamira! You have to stay awake!" Quill tried to wake her up again, but she just wouldn't.

Later that night, Quill was sitting in a chair that he had pulled over by Aamira's bed. He wasn't tired in the slightest because he was so scared for Aamira. 

"I don't care what happens after this, just please be okay!" He said to her, even though she was still asleep.

The door creaked open. Quill sprang to his feet, but sighed out of relief when it was just Daisy. 

Daisy walked across the room and jumped onto Aamira's bed. She looked at her worried for a second, then went back to the door. Then, to Quill's horror, a pokemon wearing a cloak came through the door. He was about to shout, but Daisy covered his mouth before he had the chance.

The pokemon in the cloak looked down at Aamira, then it looked over at Quill. For some reason, Quill didn't feel scared of it anymore.

The pokemon in the cloak walked closer to Aamira, the whole time keeping its head down. It raised one of Aamira's eyelids. She shook it off and rolled over, but still didn't wake up. Then it picked Aamira up and started walking towards the door. Daisy took her hand away from Quill's mouth and beckoned for him to follow. 

'What am I getting myself into?' He wondered, and followed after them. 

Quill couldn't tell exactly where they were going. He tried to memorize everything they had passed and the direction they had gone so they could go back, but this world was so unfamiliar to him that he just couldn't. Soon the top of the castle disappeared below the horizon and Quill had no idea where they were. He only wished that someone would say something and break the dreadful quiet, even if it meant that it would have to be the pokemon in the cloak because he was too scared to say anything and Daisy couldn't talk.

Finally they reached a cave. The pokemon in the cloak carried Aamira inside, and Quill hesitantly followed. Daisy stayed outside and pushed a boulder over the caves entrance and came through the rock to join everyone else. The cave seemed to go deeper and was lit by a light that came from somewhere further down. 

The cloaked pokemon laid Aamira down on the floor of the cave. 

"Is she okay…?" Quill asked. 

"She will be." He said in a whispered voice. Quill guessed it was so he wouldn't hear his real voice, but it still scared Quill a lot. 

The pokemon put his hand over Aamira's forehead. The sleeves on the cloak were so long that Quill couldn't even see what his hands looked like. A flash of light came from its hand and went into Aamira's head. Aamira's eyes opened almost immediately. She yelled at the sight of the pokemon and quickly got up and backed up against the cave wall. Aamira stared at him for a moment, but then she started coughing. 

"Are you okay?" Quill asked. 

Aamira couldn't answer. Instead, she coughed something up that looked like a piece of glass. Aamira put her hands to her throat. "Ow… How could I have swallowed that?" 

"That must have been what was making you sick." Quill said happily. "So you're going to be okay now!"

"You're only half right…" The pokemon in the cloak whispered. 

"You don't have to whisper like that!" Aamira snapped at him. "You really think that after you gave me some of your aura so I would wake up that I wouldn't know who you were? Lucario?"

The cloaked pokemon hesitated for a moment before he pulled down the hood on his cloak. "I knew I wouldn't be able to hide my identity from you. And there's not much of a point in it either. Mismagius knows that I betrayed her, but I have to make her think for as long as I can that Shade and I are two different people." 

"So you're Shade!" Quill said. "This whole time you were Shade! The shadow's second in command!"

"I WAS the shadow second in command. Or did Mismagius not tell you the truth behind that? Haven't you noticed how strangely she's been acting lately? She brings you to this world, and you have nothing to do so you're forced to stay in the castle all the time. Then when being stuck inside constantly practically drives you crazy, she panics and locks you in. And immediately after that Aamira just happens to get sick and hardly ever wakes up." 

"Wait, what are you saying?" Quill asked. 

"Isn't it obvious? Mismagius isn't trying to stop the shadow, she IS the shadow!" 

Quill jumped, but for some reason, Aamira wasn't too surprised by that. 

"She told us Shade was evil and was the shadows second in command so we wouldn't get curious and go looking for him." Aamira said. "We don't know anything about this world… Of course we would believe whatever she said." 

"So let me tell you what really happened." Lucario said. "The first Shade was a Lucario that worked along side Mismagius all those years ago. He was her most trustworthy servant. But what she didn't know was that he was working on something that would trap her so she would never be able to cause any destruction to this world ever again. When she was nearly at the height of power, Shade showed her a staff with a magic crystal on it. He said that the crystal was like the ones legendary pokemon use to store their power and that if she stored her own energy in it, her energy would grow and she would become invincible. But using his own aura, he was able to seal Mismagius entirely in the crystal. Then Shade said, 'one day, you may get out of there and try to take over again, but when that happens, my descendant will become the new Shade and stop you once again.' And guess who his descendant is." 

"But she couldn't have been telling us nothing but lies." Aamira said. "A lot of the story was like the ones that she told us. She said that someone sealed the shadow in a staff, and in a different story, she said that the Shade worked with the shadow and said that another Shade would appear when the shadow returned." 

"Yea, but in that story, Shade was evil." Quill said. 

"You're missing the point I'm trying to make here." Aamira said. "Remember the first story she told us? She said that it was the king who sealed the shadow into the staff. If she was telling the truth, and Shade was the king, and Lucario is Shade's descendant…" 

"Then Lucario is the king!" Quill said. 

"Exactly…" Lucario said. "But the kingdom isn't really mine; it's yours." He pointed at Aamira.

"What? You're joking, right?" Aamira said. "Mismagius said that kings usually have aura like mine, but… I can't be royalty!" 

"Maybe not. There are two ways to become the king though. Either you inherit the title, or an Aura Reader becomes the king. But because of how fearful the people have become, it's always an Aura Reader that becomes the king unless one can't be found." 

"Wait, you lost me." Quill said. "What's an Aura Reader?" 

"You don't know. That's just perfect…" Lucario said flatly. "An Aura Reader is someone with a particular aura, like the kind Aamira has. And there are many effects that come from it, including four special abilities that only Aura Readers can learn." 

"That explains a lot." Quill said. "You know, like whenever you touch something you have a thought that tells you about it." 

"That hasn't worked for a while now." Aamira said. "I haven't even been able to use Aura Sphere as well as usual."

"Maybe because your aura isn't complete, like mine, which would mean that you still wouldn't be a perfect candidate to become a king. As you know, aura comes in many different colors to reflect the personality and fighting style of the pokemon. An Aura Reader's has two colors: gold and silver. It's really rare that they're equal though, so a lot of the time Aura Readers have trouble using their abilities the way they want." 

"That really explains a lot." Quill said. "So what kind of abilities does Aamira have anyway?" 

"There's the ability called Aura Reading, which obviously comes with being an Aura Reader. It lets you learn whatever you want just by touching what it is you want to learn about. Then there's Aura Seal which, like the name suggests, lets you seal aura. If you're wondering, that's what Mismagius did to you. The opposite of Aura Seal is Aura Release, which is what I did so save you just a moment ago. Then there's the third and hardest to do; Aura Restore." 

"What does that do?" Aamira asked. 

"Imagine if you could save someone inches from death, or even bring them back to life if you were strong enough. That's what it does. But not only is it the most difficult to do, but it's also the most dangerous. Many of the former kings have died trying to bring back their loved ones. Every now and then it would work, but in using up all of their aura, the kings would completely disappear only moments after." 

"So it basically just returns aura back to the way it was before." Quill said. "Yea, Aamira did that once!" 

"I did?" Aamira asked. 

"Don't you remember? When we were in Divum, Suicune tried to escape from his treasure using your aura and he accidentally messed up mine. Then I got really sick because of it and you saved me. And fainted right after…" 

"That sounds like it." Lucario said. 

"I can't believe all of this." Aamira said. "I have so many questions now…" 

"I guess we can ignore the rule that says you can't question the teacher for now." Lucario said. "Ask me whatever, but we have to get going."


	30. Chapter 30 Aamira's Past

"So where are we going?" Quill asked. 

"Back to the underground." Lucario said as he led them deeper in the cave. "What do you think happens to the pokemon Mismagius kidnaps?" 

"I was sort of wondering that." Aamira said. 

"If they have a good aura, she uses Aura Seal to keep them from regaining their energy. Then she sneaks a Mirror Shard into their food so they swallow it and she can use it to absorb their energy."

"So that's the thing I coughed up, right?" Aamira asked. "But what happens when their energy is gone?"

"Normally they would just go out like a light." Lucario said. "But if Mismagius seals her own aura in them, she can use them like puppets." 

Daisy looked a little offended by the metaphor. 

"I thought that Aamira's eyes were just bloodshot, but they were similar in color to Mismagius's." Quill said. 

"That's a side effect, though it only happens with Aura Readers. Which of course means it's impossible to tell who's being controlled and who isn't unless you look at their aura. Thankfully because I can see auras, I can save the pokemon that aren't under her control yet. Those pokemon become a member of a team that I'm making to fight against Mismagius." 

"Wow an underground resistance fighting against an evil tyrant who's trying to enslave the world! A king in disguise as their leader!"

"Well, at least we know you're feeling better." Quill said to Aamira. "I had no idea you liked stuff like that." 

"It's so cool! But serious too." She said. "We probably shouldn't mess around too much."

"Really? Who are you and what have you done with Aamira!" Quill said. "When was the last time you really took anything seriously?" 

"I'm glad you see the importance of this at least." Lucario said. "The closer we get, the more energy you'll have. Most of the aura in this world is gone for good, but there are certain areas where it's still strong." They entered another cavern and were stunned by what they saw. The whole thing was lit by glowing orange flowers. "This is the entrance to one of those places where aura is still strong. In those places, Solar Flowers grow, which are a physical form of aura." 

"So instead of the sun, this world relies off of flowers?" Quill asked. 

"I know it's hard to believe, but that's just how it is. Our world never had a sun, though it has two moons. Instead of a sun, we have to rely off of these flowers for life. Imagine a world that was covered in these flowers and glowed for half of the day. Then when the moons rise, they would mysteriously dim and become what seem to be just ordinary flowers."

"A world covered in flowers glowing like these?" Aamira could imagine what it looked like, and it made her sad that the world was dying and the light was disappearing. 

"Well, let's not stop here. We should keep going." Lucario stepped into a grassy patch in the cave. The flowers were parted perfectly through the middle to make a path so that none of them would get stepped on.

Daisy didn't follow right away. Instead she stopped to pick an actual daisy, which she gave to Aamira. 

"She seems to like you a lot." Lucario said. 

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, do you know her?" Aamira asked. 

"I don't think Lucario used to be the kind who would play with dolls." Quill said. To his surprise, Lucario actually laughed. 

"Believe it or not, but I probably was. I was always scared of everything. That was a long time ago, though. But in spite of what you're probably thinking, Daisy wasn't my doll, she… actually belonged to a former student of mine…" 

Aamira remembered what Lucario had said before. He had two students and both of them ended up dying because of him. Now that she thought about it, it was probably really because of Mismagius. 

"So what happened?" Quill asked. 

"Quill!" Aamira said to him. "Don't bring up stuff like that!" 

Daisy started pointing at Aamira. 

"You know that's not possible! She's gone, just face it!" Lucario said to Daisy. "No one could have survived that… And she was trapped in the middle of it." 

"Trapped in the middle of what?" Aamira asked. 

"My friend got captured by Mismagius because of my foolishness. I risked being found out by trying to rescue her. But something went wrong with one of Mismagius's machines and it exploded. I wasn't as close to it, luckily, but it still blasted me far away and knocked me unconscious. I looked for such a long time before I finally convinced myself that no one who was trapped in the middle of that could have survived." 

Daisy slapped her forehead. 

"What do I have to do, give you proof?" Lucario said angrily. He pulled something out of a pocket in his cloak. "This was her scarf! It was all I ever found of…" Then he noticed Aamira staring at the scarf. The scarf was purple, and had a symbol on it that looked like the sun and moon.

"That's… my scarf…" Aamira was shaking all over. "I lost it a while ago…" She looked up and Lucario and tried not to smile until they knew for sure. "What was your friend's name?" 

"It was Aamira, but she wasn't a Riolu! It couldn't be you…" 

"I found Aamira by Shroud Lake." Quill said. "She looked really badly hurt when I found her. When she regained consciousness, she couldn't remember anything except previously being a human…"

Lucario just stared at Aamira and a smile slowly came to his face. "It really is you! I don't believe it!"

Daisy started cheering silently, then actually hugged Aamira. 

"Okay! Okay! I get it!" Aamira said while she tried to push Daisy off of her. 

"Aamira, I can't believe it!" Quill said. "I promised you I'd help you find out who you used to be and now we did!"

"Tell me everything!" Aamira said to Lucario.

Lucario laughed again. "For once I'm glad that these tunnels are so long. It's going to take a while to tell you everything!

"I guess the hard part is figuring out where everything began. Well as I'm sure Mismagius told you, she found me when I was still just a baby. Why she kept me around I might never know. But before I knew who she was, I used to help her all the time. She has a liking for the treasures belonging to legendary pokemon, but she never told me why. 

"One night to get out of the castle for a while, I went through the forest. I heard a sound through the trees and hid. What I saw was shocking. There was an elderly looking Lucario surrounded by twelve shadow pokemon, which is what we call the pokemon under Mismagius's control. I thought he was done for, but in just one attack, he defeated all of them. Then to my surprise he actually knew I had been watching him. 

"Not really knowing what to say, I asked him if he could be my teacher. And he said if I was sure about what I was doing, I should meet him again the next night. I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but I came back anyway. So he became my teacher, and we trained in secret every night. But one night when I came to meet him, Mismagius was already there and with at least twenty shadow pokemon, and my teacher was on his last legs. 

"I was about to help him, but then he said 'It doesn't surprise me that you've returned. But even if you get rid of me, there will always be someone lurking in the dark waiting for the chance to stop you. And I'm sure, that just as the legend suggests, Shade will return.' I could tell he knew I was there, and he was talking to me. Then Mismagius replied 'I know full well that you're a descendant of Shade. After you're gone, there will be no heir to the throne, and no other Shade to stop me.' But he just smirked and said, 'A hero will always in a time of need. And though it pained me to do it, years ago I assured that a hero would come.' Mismagius didn't want to hear it though. She was sure that there wouldn't be anyone to stop her, and as for my teacher… That was it." 

"That's so sad…" Quill said. "So after that you became Shade?" 

"My teacher told me once that he had a secret hideout in the underground and that if I ever needed any help I should go there. Well, I did and I found Shade's cloak and his journal. He even left a note in there for me. He explained everything. He had one son, but knew as soon as Mismagius found out, she would come for his whole family. So to save him, he left his son outside of the castle. His plan had worked and she thought that the baby Riolu was an orphan. There was a promise that he wrote after that. 'I promise I'll come back for you. I might not tell you who I am, but I promise that I'll be the one to become your teacher.'" 

"So he was really your dad!" Aamira said. 

"He was my dad, the king, my teacher, and Shade. And so his sacrifice wouldn't have been for nothing, I made a promise to stop Mismagius. I started saving any pokemon I could from her without her finding out who I was. We used the secret hideout as sort of a headquarters for our team. Everything was going fine, but we weren't really getting anywhere. But one night we got lucky, more or less. 

"I was walking through the forest, like I did a lot. Then I saw something I never saw before being chased by a bunch of shadow pokemon. It was you. I stopped the shadow pokemon, but you had lost consciousness. Unfortunately the hideout was too far away, so the only thing I could do was bring you back to the castle. The healer bandaged you up and in a few days you were completely healed. 

"You were definitely a lot different than anyone else though. You were so childish. There's hardly anyone in this world that ever knew what it was like to be a kid. You even, of course, carried a doll with you pretty much wherever you went." 

Daisy started jumping around again. 

"That doesn't sound like Aamira…" Quill said slyly.

"Then Mismagius did something you really didn't like. She told you that you had a special aura and that the reason you must have come to this world was to become its king. That was the first time I ever saw you get mad. You shouted at her saying that you had your own reasons for coming to this world and you didn't need some sassy ghost pokemon telling you what's what." 

Quill burst out laughing. "Now THAT sounds like Aamira!" 

"I will never forget the look on Mismagius's face. I couldn't stop myself; I burst out laughing right in front of her. Then you started laughing too. That was probably the first time you even acknowledged my existence since I found you in the forest. Mismagius just sighed and mumbled something about having to watch after two little kids now. But since then we've been really close friends. 

"You had a bit of an insomnia problem though, so one night you went looking for me and found out everything. Not that I wasn't planning on telling you, since Mismagius knew you were an Aura Reader. You seem relieved to find out the truth and started begging me to let you stay in the hideout all the time. So we staged an abduction where Shade would 'kidnap' you. Mismagius never found out because we were smart enough to trick her. I had one of our other team members wear my cloak and pretend to be Shade so that you and I would be together when Shade came, so Mismagius could never guess it was a setup."

"That sounds like something Aamira would do." Quill said. "I was wondering how you got to be such a good actor."

"I guess practice makes perfect!" Aamira grinned. 

"Yes, and we even both fought against the Shade imposter, which made it seem even more realistic. And when you were finally able to stay in the hideout all the time, you seemed more happy than you ever had before, even though to make it not look like a setup you had to leave Daisy behind." 

Daisy hugged Aamira's arm. 

"You knew I would come back, didn't you?" Aamira asked. 

Daisy smiled. 

"The only thing I hadn't counted on was the extension of your insomnia. There was a music box that you used to play to help you get to sleep, but you had to leave that behind too. So every night either you couldn't sleep or you would have horrible nightmares. So I made you that scarf out of Lunar Wings, which are supposed to keep bad dreams away. Later on it came in handy too. We found out that because your aura wasn't evenly gold and silver, you could only use your abilities when we were together. So I used Aura Seal to put some of my aura in you scarf so you could use your abilities even if we ever got separated. 

"After that you asked me to teach you how to fight like I did. I think it was because of this that you were able to learn so quickly the second time you became my student, in spite of your amnesia. But we were starting to become too close as friends. If anything ever happened to one of us, the other would be devastated. After that I made the most idiotic mistake ever. I took you to a forest far away from the hideout and told you to stay there and not to come back. I thought it was for the best. After all, you could take care of yourself at that point.

"A few days afterwards, I found out that you had been captured by Mismagius. So I returned to the castle, but kept my distance to find out what Mismagius was up to. The whole time she was planning on making you the king and using you as a puppet. But then she got a better idea; she could use you abilities to learn whatever she wanted. But even when you did learn something, you refused to tell her. If she tried to make you one of her puppets, she would have to take your aura, and then you wouldn't be an Aura Reader anymore, so it wouldn't matter anyway. So Mismagius tried to find a way to read your emotions. 

"She found a genius that lived in the world where Quill comes from and promised him fame and riches if he helped her. He agreed to try to find a way for Mismagius to read your emotions. Unfortunately he figured it out too soon. He made a device that would make you fall asleep, and when you woke up, Mismagius would be able to feel everything you did, so she could practically read your mind. But he warned Mismagius that it would only work because her aura was so similar to yours and that she had to be the first one you saw or it wouldn't work. 

"I couldn't just sit around anymore. I left and came back wearing the cloak, and went through a secret underground passage to get you out. But we were spotted when we tried to make our escape. We ran as fast as we could, but they had taken some of your energy so you wouldn't be able to get far if you did somehow manage to escape. I kept trying to urge you to run faster, but you were just too tired. The scientist that Mismagius had hired was too impatient to wait for us to be captured. Mismagius warned him not to touch anything, but it was too late. The last thing I heard was your screaming. There was an explosion and I was blown miles away. I had no idea what had happened, but I just couldn't believe you were gone… I searched for weeks, but couldn't find you anywhere."

"Hey, Lucario." Quill said. "You said that machine he was building would make it possible for Mismagius to read Aamira's emotions, right? And that it would only work because their aura was similar?" 

"Right." 

"Well would it only work with Mismagius?" Quill asked. 

"No. I think that anyone with an aura similar to Aamira's would be able to read her emotions as long as they were the first person she saw after waking up." 

"That explains it then! Ever since I found Aamira, I've been able to feel her emotions no matter how far away we got from each other. I remember when we first met she kept getting scared every time I read her emotions because she said it was almost like I was reading her mind."

"I guess we'll have to be careful then." Aamira said. "She's bound to be after all three of us now. But I don't get something. Mismagius said that you were captured by the shadow and that you had disappeared. What happened to you?" 

"Mismagius and I were talking out by Shroud Lake. It seemed just to be a normal conversation at first. 'We need to figure out who's the traitor in the castle.' She was saying. 'But lately I've been thinking, maybe there's more than one.' I tried to stay calm, but there wasn't any point; she already knew. Some shadow pokemon appeared and I was ambushed. I woke up later in the castle's dungeon. Somehow I managed to escape though. But then I thought that she might come after the two of you, so I hurried back to that other world. But when I got there, I saw a horrible scene; Mismagius was talking to everyone in Vine City." 

"'I couldn't believe it! I was shocked!' She practically yelled to them. 'We were on our way to find Lucario when we were ambushed! And I can tell you I never saw it coming. The pokemon that had attacked us was Lucario! Poor Quill and Aamira were no match; he took both of them and said that they would make a perfect gift for the shadow! I tried to stop him, but I never knew that Lucario was so strong.' So they became convinced that I was working for the shadow, and I became a wanted outlaw in that world. I avoided people whenever possible so I could come back to this world. I knew that Mismagius must have taken you two to the castle, and I knew I had to get back there. I used my ability to see aura to find the two of you, but you both looked perfectly happy at the time. 

"I didn't know what this could have meant, so every night I would check on the two of you. Then Mismagius locked the two of you in that room and I knew that you weren't there by choice. That's when Daisy showed up. Using my ability to see aura, I was able to decipher what she was trying to tell me. You had fallen asleep and wouldn't wake up. This seemed like a step backwards for Mismagius, but I had to get you out anyway. So Daisy led the way through the castle and picked the lock to your door so I could get in. And you know the story from there."

"Wait, so everyone in Vine City thinks we were kidnapped?" Quill asked. "We did come here of our own free will, but then Mismagius told us we had to stay in the castle until she could find a way to send us back. But she had actually gone back and told everyone that we were kidnapped?"

"They must all be worried sick about us." Aamira said. 

"You can go back if you want. In certain areas where aura is strongest, it's possible to teleport to another world if you know what to do. If I'm right, that's why Aamira showed up at Shroud Lake. The explosion must have been from a build up of energy, which was enough to end up teleporting you to the lake. That would also explain why Mismagius is so interested in that lake. But do you think you two could stick around for a while?" 

"I'm not going anywhere!" Aamira said happily. "We'll help out in any way we can." 

"Great, because no one's going to believe me when I tell them you're back. They think I've almost gone crazy while looking for you… and I think I almost did. And it's important that they know you're okay since the two of us were the team leaders." 

"I was a leader of the resistance?" Aamira said excitedly. "This just keeps getting better!" 

"We're almost there now." 

They entered a larger cavern. Some hideout; it was a whole underground city lit by Solar Flowers. There was a large group of pokemon there. As soon as they saw Quill and Aamira, the left side of the crowd started cheering. Over on the left side was a group of people who they knew. 

"We were wondering when you would be kidnapped!" Roy said to them. 

"We were worried about you guys!" Quill said. 

"I'm not saying that I'm starting to like you two, but it's best that we all ended up here, I guess." It was Milotic. And apparently she was starting to like them. 

"Congratulations!" It was Charmeleon. "You're officially missing pokemon abducted by the shadow!"

"Oh that's enough!" They recognized the voice, but they wished they didn't. "Everyone in our world thinks Lucario's a villain and he saved us!" 

"Mankey!" Quill said. "What are you doing here?" 

"Right after you two disappeared, Aipom and I were kidnapped by Mismagius. Aipom's still in the dungeon somewhere, but I escaped. I'm so worried though." 

"Aipom…" 

"Quill?" Aamira waved her hand in front of his face. "Quill, we'll get her and the rest of the pokemon out of there. That's why we even agreed to come here, isn't it?" 

"Jeez, you crybabies think you can really do anything." It was Crawdaunt. "Come on! You wimps probably couldn't even escape on your own!" 

"Why'd you save her?" Quill asked. 

"I rescue whoever I can. It's the right thing to do." Lucario turned to Crawdaunt. "And the reason they didn't escape was because they didn't want to. They didn't even know that they had been kidnapped; Mismagius just brought them there because of how important they are." 

"These two? Important? Yea right!" Crawdaunt said. 

"I'd be nicer to Aamira if I were you." Charmeleon said. 

"What, are you going to defend her?" 

"I don't need to. A couple days ago I heard a pretty interesting story from Meganium. Apparently she was pretty good friends with the other leader of the team. And her name just happened to be Aamira." 

"Oh, so you know?" Aamira turned to Lucario. "I guess you weren't here at the time." 

"No. If I'm right, that was the night you saw me outside when it was storming." 

"So that's really Aamira?" Someone who Quill and Aamira didn't recognize asked. "Seriously, Lucario, I think you need to take a break." 

"You all seriously think he's crazy!" Aamira snapped at them. 

Quill grabbed her arm. "Hey, don't lose your temper now or they'll never trust us!" 

"I don't care if they trust us or not! Lucario's done so much for all of us. He risked his life daily to help every pokemon in both of our worlds, and this is how you repay him? And not just that, but after all I've been through after being turned into a pokemon and losing my memory you don't even believe who I am? I've gone through so much! You know about that legend in Divum about the evil human that got turned into a human? I was pretty much convinced that was me until Suicune had to tell me himself that it wasn't."

Mankey raised her hand. "Charmeleon and I are witnesses to that." 

"I'd like to know if anyone here hasn't gone a little crazy because of the things Mismagius and those shadow pokemon have done because if anyone here hasn't I think you would have already had some serious problems!" 

Everyone was quiet for a while. Then slowly everyone started cheering. Aamira had no idea what was going on, so she just looked over at Lucario. 

"Good to have you back, Aamira!" Someone from in the crowd shouted. A lot of the other pokemon shouted in agreement.

"What just happened?" Aamira asked. 

Lucario laughed a little. "You're the only one I've ever known who could shout at or even insult a small army of pokemon without having to pay for it afterwards. It sure kept everyone on edge and even in a good mood for some reason." 

"Great, my new boss is this wimp…" Crawdaunt said under her breath. 

Aamira grabbed her by the claw and flipped her on her back before she even knew what was happening. A few of the pokemon backed away a little, but most of them shouted excitedly.

"Hey, so when can I go home?" Crawdaunt asked. "You said you'd send me back!" 

"I'm not sending you there alone so you can spread more rumors and until Eevee is done with his research, there's no way of even sending more than one pokemon to another world." Lucario replied. 

"So that's the real reason you wanted us to agree to stay." Quill said. 

"After you were stuck here for a week, I didn't want you to be disappointed. I know you all want to go home, and Eevee and the other scientists are working on finding a way for us all to go back at the same time, but until then, we'll all just have to stay here." 

"Well we said we would help, didn't we?" Aamira looked around at the underground city covered in the orange, glowing flowers. "Besides, living here should be a lot better than in some castle…"


	31. Chapter 31 Lucario's Promise

Aamira woke up and yawned and sat in her fluffy new bed. It seemed almost too comfortable. She was still used to sleeping in a hammock in Team Sleuth headquarters. The light from the Solar Flowers dimmed at night so everyone there could sleep, but they didn't go out entirely so they could still find their way through the normally pitch black tunnel. But now that it was morning, they were shining brightly again. 

'Maybe I should try to sleep for a little longer…' She thought. 'The flowers give off energy, that's what really wakes people up, but there were just too many surprises yesterday…'

Aamira laid back down on her bed. That bed was the only thing in her room, but that was the most anyone really needed there, and of course it was covered in Solar Flowers. 

That had been her room when she was a human and before she lost her memory. The reason she even turned into a Riolu and lost her memory was because of some special abilities she had. Mismagius wanted her to use her abilities for evil, but something went horribly wrong. Sort of. Aamira was supposed to fall asleep and if Mismagius was the first person she saw when she woke up, Mismagius would practically be able to read her mind. But since she was turned into a pokemon and teleported to Shroud Lake, her friend Quill was the first person she saw and now Quill could feel all of her emotions and practically read her mind. 

'I really do like it here…' She thought. 'This may be another world, but after things go back to normal, maybe Quill and I could come and work in this world as an Investigation Team and we can live here…' 

In another part of the underground city, Quill and Lucario were with the rest of the team who had already gotten up. Everyone was just talking and getting ready for the day, so nothing exciting was happening yet.

"You can feel Aamira's emotions no matter how far away you two get, right?" Lucario asked Quill. 

"Well maybe not if we were in two different worlds or something…" Quill answered. 

"Can you tell if she's awake though?" 

"Oh, yea. She's been awake for a while, but she's still a little overwhelmed by yesterday." 

Lucario nodded. "I understand that… Maybe the two of you should just relax for now so you can get used to this…" 

"After being stuck in a castle for a week neither of us would want to just lay around while everyone else is working so hard." 

Aamira yawned and walked up to them. "What does everyone do around here anyway?" 

"I don't know if you've been to Special Services headquarters, but it's like that. There are different pokemon who each do specific jobs. Sometimes we have really young pokemon that we find and bring here, so some of the members look after them. Other than that we have some doctors, and some scientists. Of course everyone also forms their own teams. Sometimes a few teams and I go out on recon to look for items and new members."

"Hey my team wouldn't mind staying here today if you wanted to take Quill and Aamira out on recon instead." A Piplup said to Lucario. 

Lucario turned back to Aamira and Quill. "Would you two want to come?" 

"Yes!" Neither of them even hesitated with answering. 

"Alright, but just remember that this isn't anything like the world you come from. The pokemon here are out of control in dungeons just like in your world, but they're a lot stronger. Always stay vigilant." Lucario turned back to the rest of the pokemon. "The rest of you all know what your jobs are today, so let's all do our best." 

Everyone cheered and went to work, even Crawdaunt who up until now seemed to hate being there.

Lucario turned to leave and Aamira and Quill followed after him, though Aamira was sort of dragging her feet, feeling a bit reluctant to go back out into the world of darkness. 

"Wait, Aamira!" 

Aamira turned to see who had called her. It was a Meganium. 

"I just had to ask before you left. Charmeleon said that you were friends with Sceptile now… How is he?" 

Aamira smiled awkwardly. She never would have guessed this was the same Meganium. "Last I heard he was okay, but he's been worried ever since he found out you disappeared." 

"Right. Charmeleon told me what he was thinking all of this time. Mismagius always does stuff like that, I've seen it too often." She seemed to be just as worried about Sceptile as he was worried about her. 

"Hey, hurry up!" Lucario yelled to Aamira. 

Aamira turned and ran towards Quill and Lucario.

Meganium watched her leave. 'She acts just the way she used to. Her appearance might have changed, but I doubt much else has…' She smirked and walked off in the other direction.

"Hey, Quill. Meganium is here." Aamira said when she caught up with them. 

"Yea, I saw her earlier this morning." Quill said. "She said she used to be a friend of yours. What are the odds?"

"She had a reputation around here as the nicest pokemon." Lucario said. "She was the first one I found. Actually, she was the only one I asked to join. Most of the team members were rescued from dungeons and cities, but when I found Meganium, she was finding and defeating shadow pokemon by the dozens." 

"Why was she looking for them?" Aamira asked. 

"Apparently something happened and Mismagius kidnapped her on accident. So instead of wasting a Mirror Shard to control her like the others, Mismagius just took her to the wilderness and left her there. So Meganium started finding shadow pokemon and trying to get them to tell her where Mismagius was. Once she confused me for a shadow pokemon and attacked me. I won, but it's not like I was going to force her to come with me and join the team, so it took a while to convince her. I told her I could send her back to the world she came from, but once she really knew what was going on, she offered to stay and help." 

"I wonder how many of our friends ended up in this world…" Quill said. "They could be getting kidnapped by the minute." 

"Now I'm sure that's not the case. You two might know that Mismagius is the shadow now, but no one in your world knows. Mismagius even knows this trick where if anyone in that world figures out the truth, they disappear and end up here. So needless to say, she's being careful enough to make sure no one finds out that it's her." 

"I'm still worried about our friends though. I looked everywhere last night, but I couldn't find Nuzleaf, so I'm guessing he's a shadow pokemon or something now." 

"He was one of your team members, right? Aamira, you remember how I told you that aura can rub off on people?" 

"Of course I remember…" She said flatly. "You gave me a twenty page homework assignment on it." 

"Oh, right. Since you're safe now, you're going to have to do the homework." 

"You've got to be kidding!" 

Lucario laughed. "Well what were you expecting? Tomorrow another team will be going on recon, so we have the whole day for training." 

'The whole day!' Aamira knew better than to complain. Yesterday was fine when they found out that Lucario and her were friends before she lost her memory, but now Lucario was back to being her teacher again. 

"Weren't you saying something about aura rubbing off on people?" Quill asked. 

"Oh, right. With every person we meet, we change a little. And when someone changes, their aura changes with them. There are certain qualities an Aura Reader has to have for their whole lives that can't rub off on others, but if an Aura Reader meets a lot of people, their aura could become similar to an Aura Reader's. Since Mismagius is afraid of any aura like an Aura Reader's, she kidnaps anyone with aura that's even close. So anyone close to you would be in danger." 

"So it's technically my fault that all those people that we knew disappeared?" Aamira said. 

"Don't think that! You can't ask for anything better than a friend. And if anyone does get kidnapped, do you really think they would blame you? If they did, they wouldn't really be a friend then, would they?"

"Yea, I guess… But that wouldn't change the fact that it would have been because of me…" 

Their mission was in an accurately named dungeon called Dark Woods. They found some pretty good items, even ones they didn't know the names of. They even found special items for Riolu and Cyndaquil. They were called a Burning Stone and Brave Stone. They also rescued a Rattata that was being attacked by a Persian in the deepest part of the dungeon. 

Aamira was too distracted though. No matter what Lucario or Quill said, Aamira still felt responsible for the kidnapping of a lot of the pokemon they knew. 

"Does she usually get like this?" Lucario asked Quill after Aamira went back to her room. The two of them were sitting by an underground lake which was apparently where the aura was strongest in that area. 

"Yea sometimes. Usually when something gets stuck in her head, it takes a while for her to shake it off." Quill said. "In fact, she had a grudge against me only about a week ago for saying in front of out team that…" Quill stopped himself from saying anymore. 

"For saying what?" 

"Nothing! If she found out I told you, I wouldn't be here tomorrow!" 

Lucario laughed. "She was always a bit like that, I suppose. I was hoping her losing her memory would change that. Something in her past made her very irritable and gave her some anger issues. I think the only thing that's changed now though is that she doesn't just threaten to hurt someone anymore; she actually does." 

"You mean Aamira wasn't always like that?" 

"No. She always seemed to have something on her mind. It was almost as if she were guilty of something. She never wanted to talk about her past either. Whenever someone asked her she would change the subject. I didn't want to tell either of you about this, but she wouldn't even tell anyone what her name was." 

"Wait, so Aamira isn't even her real name?" Quill asked shocked. 

"No. A few days after she came to live here, I told her we had to know her name unless she wanted to be called 'human' all the time and she just said, 'if you want to call me by a name, then give me a new one'. She liked Aamira, so that's what we went with." 

"So no one really has any idea who she is. I can understand why she always acted the way she did. She probably didn't have a really good life before and didn't want to tell anyone. And everyone could probably make her mad really easily because they didn't understand her."

"I expect that's it. And now she gets mad easily because not even she understands herself. No matter what happened, I could never forget the time she snapped at Mismagius. Remember what I told you she said? 'I have my own reasons for coming to this world and I don't need some sassy ghost pokemon telling me what's what!' I think maybe there was someone like Mismagius that she used to know who also wanted her to do something. Maybe not become a ruler, but something she didn't want to do, so she ran away and ended up here. That's the best guess I have." 

"Wow so she ran right back into her old life by ending up in the castle with Mismagius? No wonder she didn't even acknowledge your existence at first since you were the one who brought her there. And no wonder she was so eager to come and live here permanently."

"I don't get why she had to be so secretive about it though."

"Well you can't really like fighting all the time, can you? Well Aamira probably felt the same way. She wanted a new more exciting life and was disappointed when she came here and everything was practically the same. Didn't you say that she was really excited when she found out about the underground hideout and everything that happened down here?"

"I guess everyone wishes they had a different life at one point or another. I just wish this would all be over with so we can put everything behind us." Lucario got up and turned to leave. "I'm going to go see what Aamira's doing." 

Quill stared out across the lake thinking about what Lucario had said. He seemed to give everything a lot of thought. Quill smirked. 'I get it. Lucario likes Aamira.' 

A loud bang nearly made Quill jump out of his fur. Instinctively he jumped off and ran in the direction it came from. He passed a few pokemon, but none of them seemed too concerned. There was a building near the back of the cavern that was smoking. A pokemon was trying to blow the smoke out with a paper fan. 

"Why does this keep happening?" The pokemon said. 

Quill recognized the voice, though he couldn't really see the pokemon through the smoke. "Eevee, is that you?" 

The pokemon ran out from the smoke. "Hi Quill! It's been a while! I heard that you and Aamira were here and that you brought a new friend with you named Daisy. Sorry I couldn't have seen you yesterday, but I was busy." 

"Busy with what exactly?" 

"The bomb that just exploded on me again! That's the third time this week. Lucario rescued me from the dungeon in the castle when he made his escape and asked me if I could build a teleporter." 

"So far, he hasn't done well." A black pokemon with yellow rings all over it came out of the smoking building. 

"This is Shadow." Eevee said. "He's an Umbreon. He said he would help me with the teleporter, but I have to do most of the work…" 

"Yea? Well maybe Lucario should have just left you back at the castle with that Honchkrow for a while so you would have at least been told how to do this!" Shadow snapped at him. 

"So how did you get here?" Quill asked Eevee. 

"Well since Regice woke up, mom didn't have to guard the temple anymore, so I didn't have to stay in Glacies to be the next temple guardian. I tried to be an Investigation Team member like I always wanted to, but I'm not much of a fighter. I was defeated a lot. Eventually I went home and started messing with some electronics. It's always been a hobby of mine. I found a way to make some old human electronics work again and now Glacies is filled with electric lighting. When Mismagius heard about it she came and asked me to work at Special Services as a technician. 

"I jumped at the chance. Maybe I wasn't cut out to be an investigation Team Member, but at least I could help out. And almost immediately I came up with an idea for a machine that would change the way all pokemon lived. But shortly after I left, my mom went missing. Then a while after that Mismagius said that she might have a lead on where the missing pokemon were. Even though I wasn't much of a fighter I asked if I could come. After a while she agreed and the next thing I knew I was in a dungeon being forced to work on a teleporter.

"There was this scientist called Honchkrow who Mismagius wanted to 'teach' me about electronics. All he did was boss me around all the time and sometimes even attack me if I did something wrong. I didn't have any choice though; Mismagius said the only reason my mom was still around was because I was working for them. Lucario was in the dungeon too and we would talk sometimes after Mismagius and Honchkrow went to bed. When he told me what was going on I helped him escape and he asked if I wanted to come with him. I didn't want to, but my mom said they wouldn't hurt her because if they did they would have no way to force me to build the teleporter. 

"So I went with Lucario and he brought me back here, but he said he had to leave right after I got here. He introduced me to Shadow and left. When I found out that Lucario wanted to return all of these pokemon back to our world at the same time, I agreed to try to make another teleporter." 

"Who was that Honchkrow anyway?" Quill asked. "I think we might have seen him once." 

"He was a scientist who Mismagius actually hired. Really ambitious and always wants everything to be perfect. Cruel too. He would do experiments on the pokemon down in the dungeons." 

"You know that Aamira used to be human, right? Well we found out that a scientist hired by Mismagius was the one who accidentally turned her into a human and caused her memory loss." 

"Yea, it was him. He mumbled about that failed experiment every time he got irritated. I still can't help but wonder if by 'failed experiment' he meant the actual experiment he was doing so Mismagius would be able to read her mind, or if he was actually referring to Aamira herself." 

Quill shivered. What a horrible thought that was. And yet, it didn't really surprise him by now. Mismagius did seem cruel enough and anyone ambitious and nearly as cruel as Mismagius did seem like the sort to say something like that. 

"Okay, that's enough of story time." Shadow said. "We need to get back to work!" 

"Oh what's the point!" Eevee threw his fan on the ground. "Without a sufficient energy source, it's impossible to make it work! The aura in this area is too unstable and keeps making it explode!"

"We'll figure it out." Shadow walked back into the building and Eevee reluctantly followed. 

Quill was on a walk through the town when he saw Lucario running towards him wearing his cloak.

"What's going on?" Quill asked. 

"Aamira's gone! She thinks she'll just bring trouble if she stays here so she left." He said quickly. 

"What? Well I'll help you look!" 

"No. If anything happens to the two of us, you're in charge." Lucario ran off before Quill could even say anything else. 

Lucario found Aamira a few hours later on a high plateau. She had turned to attack thinking he was a shadow pokemon, but calmed down when she realized it was just Lucario. Aamira lowered her guard and sat on the edge of the plateau.

"It was pretty reckless running off like that." Lucario said in a tone that sounded almost fatherly. 

Aamira sighed but couldn't think of anything to say. 

Lucario was also having trouble thinking of what to say. "You know as hard as I tried when we first met I could never get you to tell me your name. Eventually you just asked me to think of a name for you." 

"I guess that means there's no way for me to know anything about who I used to be." 

"Maybe, but it seemed to me that you were trying to sever all ties with your past. You couldn't have lived a very good life then. And I think that running away like that was just part of your adventurous personality." 

"I didn't want to put anyone in danger…" 

"You wouldn't have." Lucario sat by Aamira. "Only the nicest of people can be changed by being around an Aura Reader. And that type of person would have been in danger from the start. And don't forget we all live in a place where aura is strongest. Mismagius would normally be looking for those places anyway, so if she hasn't found us yet it just means that we're too far underground for her to see where we are." 

"But what if something like this happens again? Everyone I talk to would pretty much be in danger, right?"

"Something like this won't happen again! We'll defeat Mismagius and set all of the pokemon free. And if something does happen, you, me, and Quill will be there. And after all of this is over, I'll come to live in that other world with you and join your Investigation Team." Then Lucario realized that Aamira was crying.

Aamira hugged Lucario. "I don't want to be alone anymore! That's the only thing I can even get a sense of about my past; I was always alone. Even in Quill's world no one ever understood me. No one knows what it's like to completely lose their memory. It's like I was just suddenly there and nothing ever happened before that. Like it was the first day of my life. Most people lose some of their memories gradually, not all of them all at once!"

Lucario was caught off guard. Even before her memory loss, he had never even once seen Aamira cry. He looked around awkwardly, desperate to find some source of inspiration to cheer her up, though it was easier said than done. If he didn't know how to get her to calm down when she was mad, how was he supposed to help her now?

"What are we sitting on?" He asked eventually.

"A plateau." Aamira said through her tears.

"How do you know?"

Aamira was about to answer before she realized that she didn't know how she would answer that.

"No one ever told you what a plateau was, at least not that you can remember." Lucario said. "You didn't have to relearn everything after you lost your memory. You still knew what trees and rocks were, even if you did come from a different world."

"What's your point?" Aamira asked.

"Your world couldn't have been too different from this one." Lucario stood up and stretched. Following Aamira's aura had been easy, but the trip there had been a long one and he was exhausted. "How could you say you're alone as long as you're in a world where you know that the ground is stone and there are clouds in the sky? Especially when everyone else knows that the ground is stone and there are clouds in the sky. If our worlds are so similar, maybe the people are too."

"Well even if it's true that there are still some learned things I remember, what does it matter if I don't remember what the people in my world were like?"

"Well… What about Quill and myself? Would it matter to you if we're nothing like the people in your world?" Lucario smiled and held out his hand to help Aamira up. "And besides, there's one person you do know from your world; yourself."

Aamira wiped the tears from her eyes. Lucario was right; their worlds weren't so different. All this time she had been thinking of pokemon as these different creatures from herself. Now she could start to accept that she really was one of them. Aamira took Lucario's hand and stood up.

"We're not so different, I don't think." Lucario said. "You don't have to worry about being alone anymore; I promise I'll never leave you alone again."


	32. Chapter 32 Captured

When Aamira and Lucario returned to the hideout, everyone was waiting for them and all looking at them curiously. Aamira avoided making eye contact with anyone. She had had enough for one day. The Solar Flowers had dimmed which meant it was night, and Aamira had never felt more eager to get to bed. In spite of what she had said to Lucario about not wanting to be alone, the last thing she wanted just then was to be around anyone that couldn't have understood what had happened, which was every person in the hideout.

"Hey what happened?" Quill ran up to Aamira. 

"I just want to be alone for a while." Aamira walked right passed him without even turning to him.

"What's up with her?" Quill asked Lucario. 

"Just because you can feel her emotions doesn't mean you can always understand them." Lucario said to Quill.

"Wait, it wasn't something I did was it?" Quill asked. 

"I'm not really sure how to answer that." Lucario walked away from the crowd and Quill followed. "Do you remember what it was like when you first went to live in Vine City?" 

"Well, yea. I was terrified for one; I had never seen a forest before. On top of that, my brother had just died. And there weren't many other fire type pokemon so anyone who I walked past would look at me like I was some horrible disease." 

"I noticed that Aamira's been getting a few looks like that since she came here. Before because she was a human, but now because she's a pokemon. How's that for irony? And while you were feeling the way you did for being one of the only fire pokemon in a forest city, she's feeling the way she is for being the only human in a world full of pokemon. Two worlds even."

Quill sighed. "I never even thought of that. So it's because of nearly everyone that she's feeling the way she is?" 

"On top of that, she can't remember anything. At least you can remember a bit from when you were younger and if you tried you probably could figure out where you came from and who your family was. Aamira's chances of that might not be zero, but they're definitely very slim." 

"I wouldn't have thought that Aamira would tell you all of this. And even if she did, I didn't think you would tell anyone." 

"You're like a younger brother to her. I can tell. And from the moment she lost her memory, you were the only family she had." 

"But what could I do?" 

"Just be there for her. No matter how many friends she has, she'll still always wonder who she was and where she came from. Just make sure you're always there so she'll never be alone." 

Quill felt almost as confused as when they first started talking. 'Something feels off… What's with that tone in his voice…?' 

"Anyway I'm going to get to bed." Lucario walked off towards his room. 

'He's acting like he's hiding something. Nah, I'm just getting too suspicious of everyone since we started living down here. He's just worried.' Quill turned and started walking towards his room when there was a bang and a tremor that shook the whole hideout. "Looks like the teleporter exploded again…" But then he realized it hadn't come from the direction of the lab and he ran off to see what it was.

He wasn't that surprised to see Aamira surrounded by a crowd of pokemon. But there was another pokemon who was in a small crater in the ground. It was Weavile from Team Night. Apparently Weavile had done something that Aamira didn't like. 

"When did you become such a power house, eh?" Weavile stood up. "Come on, I had a rough couple of weeks I don't need this!" 

"Wait, you're a member too?" Quill said. "Actually that doesn't really surprise me…" 

"So both of you are here? W-wait…" He turned back to Aamira and looked at the scarf around her neck. "Y-you! You can't be!" 

"Yep." Lucario came through the crowd of pokemon. Apparently he had also hear the noise and came running. "She's the one that saved you a while back from Houndoom when she was turned into a shadow pokemon." 

"What?" Aamira and Quill said at the same time. 

"Does it really surprise you? We were trying to rescue Houndoom and didn't know she was a shadow pokemon. Houndoom attacked Weavile, which would have been a horrible injury for him, being an ice type, and Aamira jumped out in front of him and protected him from the fire."

"But you're never doing it again!" Meganium said from the crowd. "I was Team Overgrow's doctor, did you know? And do you know how hard it is to treat burns?" 

Charmeleon crossed his arms and shook his head. "I'll never get you pokemon and running in front of your friends to shield them…"

"That's one of the few things Aamira became famous for. She did the same when Lucario was attacked." Weavile said.

"Ah yes. Skarmory using Areal Ace…" Meganium said in a flat voice. "I didn't quite enjoy trying to figure out how a cast is supposed to be put on a human's arm and shoulder blade. You were lucky it missed your spinal cord by inches or you would have been completely paralyzed! And I doubt a Cherri Berry would have done anything for you!" 

Aamira smirked and started laughing. Then she stopped and turned back to Weavile. "About that time when we first met…" 

"I had no idea it was you! I would have never tried to mug you and Quill if I had known!" Weavile backed up a little. 

"That's not really what I was getting at. In fact because you tried to mug us it made us realize some important things, without which I doubt we would have even gotten here. But I was wondering, when you and Houndoom were talking about it being better if I were a Lucario… were you talking about if I was a Lucario, or were you talking about one Lucario in particular?" 

"No! That's not it! We were just trying to scare you!" 

Aamira laughed again. "Wow, you're kinda gullible!" 

"Hey, didn't she say that to you once before?" Someone from the crowd shouted at Weavile.

Even Lucario laughed at this and he usually didn't like this sort of thing. "If someone who lost their memory says it twice, it must be true." 

Weavile started laughing too after a while, but a lot of people were tired so not many of them stayed for too long. After a while of goofing around, Aamira and Weavile went to their rooms as well.

"Aamira's always been a little strange." Lucario said. "Needless to say, her absence these past few months has been difficult on everyone. It's good to see life starting to return to this place."

"It's kind of sad. You must have heard so much about us in our world and secretly hoped that she was your friend, but something told you that it just wasn't possible because she's a Riolu. And yet all this time she's been there right in front of you." 

"It is sad, like you said, but not because of that. Mismagius is a master at using various incantations to create illusions, like the one Sceptile saw when Meganium was taken, and to mess with the way people would normally think. That's why I think she must have put one of her spells on me. As eager as I was to find my friend, it never even crossed my mind that it was her until I met Daisy. I feel horrible that I didn't even think it could have been her when I first saw her aura, and when I first saw that same rebellious personality…"

Quill turned in the direction that Aamira had walked off in. "Something's not right…" He said.

Aamira was walking back towards them with Daisy. She was walking quickly, but not running so she wouldn't seem too worried to anyone, but Quill and Lucario could tell. 

"What is it?" Lucario asked. 

"We have to get out of here." She said. "Something's not right. Daisy was waiting outside of my room and she kept trying to keep me from going inside. When I opened the door it was like this miasma or something was coming from inside and it was just like a wave that fell over me. It felt like someone was watching from inside." 

"Do you think that miasma was actually aura?" Lucario asked.

"Maybe. It's really close to Mismagius's aura. It wasn't exact though, but it still gave me this same feeling of dread." 

For the first time, the Solar Flowers dimmed completely and the cave was thrown into complete darkness.

"Don't breathe fire or anything like that." Aamira whispered to Quill. "It would give away our location." 

Quill stayed close to Aamira so he wouldn't get lost. Aamira couldn't see aura, but she could still sense it thanks to Lucario's training. Lucario was sweeping over the area with his aura to see what was happening in the pitch black darkness. 

They heard Lucario hit an enemy and start running. Aamira grabbed Quill's paw and followed. She felt someone coming up behind her and turned and used Aura Sphere. The Aura Sphere hit the pokemon and the light from it showed that it was their friend, Mankey.

"Wait, they're our team members!" Aamira shouted to Lucario. 

The Solar Flowers started glowing again. They were surrounded by shadow pokemon, some of which were their friends. A few pokemon were still with them though. There was the three of them, Crawdaunt, Eevee, Shadow, Charmeleon, Weavile, Meganium, and a few others they didn't really know that well. 

Mismagius laughed and came through the crowd. "You all make this far too easy! Of course I would have found this hideout a long time ago if you wouldn't have betrayed me, Meganium!" 

Everyone turned to Meganium. "That's right!" Meganium said. "I was a spy for Mismagius, but I turned traitor and I'm proud of it!" 

"And Shadow, I haven't seen you in a long time…" 

Shadow didn't say anything, but he was shaking all over. 

"And Lucario, I really am ashamed of you. I raised you as a son and you do this behind my back? It doesn't really matter though; now I have a lot more strong shadow pokemon thanks to your training. So it looks like in a way Shade remained loyal this time." 

"You knew." Lucario growled.

"Of course I knew. You really expected me not to figure it out? But my greatest thanks for this achievement goes out to my best spy, Aamira." 

Everyone jumped and turned to Aamira. 

"You've got to be kidding!" Quill said to all of them. "You can't think Aamira was actually a spy!"

"Oh but she was!" Mismagius said slyly. "And you, my dear Quill, are quite the actor. Even if you didn't know you were acting." 

'I did betray everyone!' Aamira thought. 'Lucario said how aura could rub off on people could actually be what was causing Mismagius to kidnap all of our friends. I ran off to stop her from finding this place… Even if it had nothing to do with my aura, I was right from the start. I must have led her here somehow." 

"How did you turn Aamira into a spy?" Lucario asked. 

"I knew you would never let your friend's aura go out like a light, so I was also relying on you, Lucario. When I first brought the two of them to this world, Honchkrow was waiting. He developed a device that would let me see and hear everything that Aamira saw and heard."

"What do you mean by that?" Aamira asked.

"I believe Honchkrow called it a 'bug', though I don't think it looks anything like one. Just check in the fur on the side of your left ear."

Aamira touched the side of her head and, sure enough, there was some sort of bump. She pulled it off easily enough. It was some sort of small machine, small enough to be hidden in the short fur of a Riolu, possibly some sort of camera. But, as far as Aamira knew, pokemon didn't use video cameras. How was it that Honchkrow could make something so much more advanced than anything made by human hands?

"Surprising, isn't it? Honchkrow really is a genius. When you two woke up, all we had to do was trap you in the castle and you never knew what had happened." 

"After I took some time to gain your trust, I snuck a Mirror Shard into Aamira's food and made it look like I was attempting to turn her into a shadow pokemon. And because of our friend, Daisy, who ran off during the fighting in the dark, if you haven't noticed, Lucario, A.K.A. Shade, could sneak into the castle and rescue his friend. But I had overlooked something. When a Riolu's aura is cut off and they can't absorb aura from the earth, they fall asleep so I still had no way to know where the hideout was since the bug runs off of your aura, so I was completely blind until you came to the lake here and your energy was completely restored. Regardless, even if I could still see the inside of the hideout and hear the pokemon, I had no way of finding this place. When you went on that mission, it happened to be in a far away area that I hadn't been to in a very long time, so I still wasn't able to find this place when I attempted to the first time. 

"But thanks to that 'lesson' you gave her, Lucario, Aamira was sure that because of her aura I would be led straight to this place. When she ran off, I was surprised when she ended up on that plateau. That was the same one where I was with Shade when Shade sealed me in the staff. I could never, not until the end of time, forget that place. So finally I was led back here, thanks to you, Aamira. And Lucario, of course. 

"I had no idea…" Aamira's voice was barely even a whisper. 

"Let me spell it out for the rest of you: your leaders have let you down! They were the ones that led me here to your hideout! And now that you're right where I want you, my shadow pokemon and I will get rid of you unless you all join me." 

Crawdaunt didn't need to be asked again. She walked over to Mismagius and joined the crowd of pokemon. "To tell you the truth, I was starting to hope something like this would happen!"

"That was easy. But surely the rest of you wouldn't prefer to be attacked by all of us at once. Oh, and Meganium, Sceptile asked me to say hi." 

What Mismagius meant by this was clear enough. Meganium's head lowered and she joined the rest of the pokemon. "You're cruel beyond words…" 

Mismagius grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment…" 

Slowly all of the pokemon joined Mismagius. The ones that were already shadow pokemon never even had a choice. Soon the only ones left were Eevee, Shadow, Aamira, Quill, and Lucario.

Weavile was the last to join. "Why do we even say that Mismagius is evil? She's trying to take over the world, right? If she succeeds, there will only be one ruler in the whole world. No more fighting… No more loss for everyone… Mismagius is really creating a world of peace, in a way."

"If that's what a world of peace is, I'd rather live in chaos!" Shadow snapped at him. 

"So, the five of you won't join us? But don't you realize that all of your friends are on this side?" Mismagius said. "Quill, if you hadn't noticed, Aipom is here. She's a shadow pokemon now, but she's still here. As a matter of fact, a lot of your friends are here. Would you really want to fight against them?" 

"They're not our friends." Aamira said. "The moment they joined you they became nothing more than your puppets. We'll fight if it means saving the world from you!" 

"And when we win, all of the pokemon will be freed!" Quill said. "I'd do anything to achieve that ending!"

Lucario crossed his arms. "You've got nothing on me, Mismagius." 

"Or me. I have no friends." Shadow said. 

Eevee was obviously scared. It had surprised them all that he hadn't joined. "We don't have a choice, obviously, but even though I'm scared and a lot weaker than anyone else here, I'll go fighting, one way or another." 

"Alright then, I guess you win this round." Mismagius turned to leave. It seemed obvious that she was up to something. She stopped and didn't even bother turning around. "Time for round two!" 

A few of the shadow pokemon attacked and before they even knew what was going on, it was over.

Quill and Aamira woke up some time later in a prison cell in Mismagius's dungeon. Lucario had been trying to use Aura Sphere on the bars, but it didn't work. The bars started glowing and the Aura Sphere disappeared. 

Mismagius laughed. "How do you like the changes I made to the prison? Everything around you is made almost entirely of Quartz." 

"Where did you find that much Quartz!" Lucario asked. 

"Isn't Quartz one of the most common gemstones?" Quill asked. 

"It is in your world, Quill." Mismagius said. "It's no wonder the Aura Readers ran for the hills and came to this world instead. And for those of you who don't know, Quartz is one of the Aura Reader's only weaknesses. It absorbs aura in an unlimited amount. In other words, there's no escape. Aura can be absorbed by the Quartz, and you can even take the aura back if you want, but none of it will ever escape this prison. And before you try to smash your way out, I'd like to mention that there's also just a tiny bit of gold in there as well. So if you think you can break through that, be my guests and try, but I guarantee that you'll be my guests for quite some time either way." 

"What do you want with us anyway!" Aamira snapped at her. "I thought you said you were going to get rid of us!" 

"I'll just make this simple: do what I say and no one will get hurt. Not even your 'little brother'."

Quill flinched back a little. Of course that would have been the only reason she had bothered keeping him around. 

"You stay away from him!" Aamira growled at Mismagius. 

"Temper, temper… That's the one thing that's never changed about you. But how about this; you join me willingly and I'll send Quill back to his world." 

"Never!" Aamira stuck her hand through the bars of the jail cell and tried to fire an Aura Sphere, but she couldn't focus her aura to her hand. 

"Don't you ever listen? No aura can go past those bars. You would think my own niece would me smarter than this…" 

Aamira backed away, stunned and unable to believe what she had just heard. "What…?" 

Mismagius smirked. "You really think it's a coincidence that you ended up in this world not far from my castle and that you just happened to be an Aura Reader? You're an Aura Reader because my mother was an aura reader, as was my sister. While I got stuck in the pokemon world, my sister decided to plan revenge on Ho-oh for trapping me here!" 

'Ho-oh!' Aamira finally understood. That legend in Divum about an evil hearted human being turned into a pokemon wasn't just a legend; it was Mismagius. Mismagius was a human, and not only a human, but a blood relative of hers. 

"She sealed her own aura to help me return to power. She decided that after ten generations there would be a new Aura Reader to help me steal the power of the legendary pokemon. And that's why you were always so different from everyone in your world. That's why you came to the pokemon world, because you were the tenth generation." 

"No! That can't be true!" Aamira was practically talking through tears at that point. 

"It is…" Lucario said. "We found out before. That was the reason you never wanted to talk about your past. I'm sorry I never told you, but I didn't want to see you as badly hurt as you were the first time." 

"It's a shame… You were probably treated so badly by your parents because they were jealous of you and your strange powers. But how would you ever know for sure?" 

"That's your fault though, isn't it?" Aamira was shaking with anger. 

"You really think so? I'd hear you mumbling all the time in your sleep. 'Please! Take away those bad memories! I want to forget! But just don't take away the good memories!' I guess I did get a little stingy in taking them all, but I still saved some of your memories."

A white, misty orb appeared in front of Aamira. It was just out of her reach though. It seemed so familiar! Aamira could barely stand to look at it but not be able to take it. She wanted her memories back more than anything at that moment. 

"All you have to do is join me. Then we can rule the pokemon world together, side by side, which was always the whole reason you existed. What do you have to lose? I even agreed to let your friends go home if you cooperate." 

"Aamira! Don't!" Quill tried to run over to her, but Lucario stopped him. 

"It pains both of us to see this, but Aamira has to decide what she really wants." Lucario said to him. "This is her decision and we have no part in it." 

'What do I have to lose…?' Aamira thought. 'And surely after all of this she won't betray me… Why would she?' But something kept talking to her in the back of her mind. 'Why am I even considering it?' it said. 'There's no reason to believe anything Mismagius says.' Then another thought came to her. 'In the legend, Mismagius's aura was turned dark because the aura around her was dark. She's doing the same thing the people who kidnapped her did. I'm only thinking that way because she wants me to!' 

Aamira clenched her teeth. The miasma created by the dark aura was strong and she hadn't even noticed it until then. "Like I said before, I won't ever join you! Who cares if someone else decided what my life would be like? My friends and our future is more important than anything in my past!" 

"Is that really your answer?" Mismagius only seemed mildly surprised. "Alright then." The orb containing Aamira's memories fell out of the air and shattered on the ground. 

Aamira gasped. It felt like the wind had just been knocked out of her. She felt to her knees and hands and started shaking. She stared at the spot where the orb had shattered. The fragments had completely disappeared. There was no chance of her ever getting her memory back now.

Mismagius started laughing louder and longer than any of them had ever heard her laugh before. It sounded cold, high pitched, and unbelievably eerie. The thought that she could be laughing at Aamira for something like what had just happened and be clearly enjoying every moment of it filled everyone locked in the dungeon with hatred. 

"You honestly thought you had any choice to begin with? This way I just had the opportunity to hurt you more. But now after you've outlived your usefulness, I'll get rid of all of you. If you don't do as I say, I'll just start picking off your friends one by one." Mismagius floated through the ceiling and disappeared. 

Quill walked up to Aamira. "Are you alright…?" 

Aamira felt sick, as if her memories had still somehow been attached to her until just then, but somehow she managed to stand back up. "Yea, I'll be fine. But I never would have guessed Mismagius was the human from that legend, much less one of my relatives. It seems we haven't been doing a good job as an Investigation Team lately." 

"I was just thinking the same thing… So maybe you should try to help Mismagius." 

"Quill, are you crazy!" Lucario said. 

"I was just thinking… If Aamira could learn pretty much whatever she wants, then it might only be a matter of time until you accidentally find out anyway. You might as well try so we at least know what she's been trying to do this whole time." 

"It's too risky… How would we get out of here afterwards?" Aamira said. "What she's after is more important than anything we've come across so far." 

"How do you know that?" Quill asked. 

"I just do. But I would think it would be obvious if she's gone through all of this trouble to find out. I can't help her! I just can't! But… there's a part of me that sort of wants to find out too…"

"I would have thought you would be a little more devastated by what just happened." Lucario said. "But you're acting almost as if nothing happened." 

"I've been worrying too much, I guess. I think my memories sort of wanted to come back or something. That's why I've always been wondering about who I used to be. It was shocking at first…"

"But now you just don't care!" Quill said. "It was like a breath of fresh air after it was destroyed." 

"Right." Aamira smiled. "I feel a lot calmer than usual now… but it was still devastating. It was like I could feel it shattering. It's hard to explain." 

"That was pretty harsh what Mismagius did…" They had all forgotten that Shadow was there until he said something. "The only time I ever saw her was once when I was still really young. She left me in the middle of nowhere and I had to learn how to live on my own. I heard stories about her wherever I went, but she's worse than I could have imagined." 

"There's only one thing I could ever remember from when I was still really young. It was something my mom always said. At least I think it was her that said it. 'In times of crisis you have to cast aside what you want, forget what you've lost, and be grateful for the things you still have and will have in the future.'" Quill laughed. "Funny that out of everything that's what I remember most. I'm not even sure what it means." 

"Be grateful for the things you have?" A shrill voice repeated that made Aamira and Lucario jump. "Considering your situation, looks like you don't have much to be grateful for!"

"I'm not sensing any aura…" Aamira said mostly to herself. 

"Duh, because my aura doesn't reach you inside that cage, silly!" The voice was coming from a small white pokemon. Its eyes were a dark, sparkling green and it's back was covered in leaves and two pink flowers. 

"Shaymin?" Aamira said. "But what would a Shaymin be doing in a world of darkness? And how long have you been out there listening to us?" 

"For one, I don't much like this world of darkness but I had no other choice but to come here and rescue you since you can't get out on your own. What kinda Aura Reader are you anyway? And second, I've been out here long enough to notice that scene with Mismagius. Brutal, huh? But wow, I never expected that you were actually supposed to help destroy the world instead of save it!"

Lucario rose to his feet and shouted at Shaymin. "Are you just going to stand there acting all smug or are you going to help us out of here!" 

Shaymin winked and looked Lucario in the eye with the eye that was still open. "Well you don't sound very grateful to Shaymin! Now listen; you be a good little doggie and I might help you out of there. If not, good luck getting out before Mismagius squeezes every last ounce of information out of your friend there!"

Lucario glanced over at Aamira whose face was expressionless. Then he turned back to Shaymin. "Fine. But do you really think you can get us out of here?" 

Shaymin looked at Lucario sourly. "You don't think I can? I'd like to see you try at least!"

"If Aamira knew about him, then Shaymin must be a legendary pokemon." Quill said. "If so then couldn't Shaymin possibly have the strength to bust us out of here?" 

Shaymin touched one of the bars on the cell door. "These are pretty strong. Even if I had my Grace-Seed with me, it would probably be difficult. I say it would be nearly impossible if I hadn't swiped the keys." 

Lucario finally snapped. "Why didn't you say you had stolen the keys to begin with!" 

His voice echoed down the dungeon and the door in front of their cell burst open. 

Honchkrow came through it. "What's with all of this racket! I don't care how important you are to Mismagius, if you don't quiet down I'll…" It was at that moment that he spotted Shaymin with the keys in his mouth. He was about to shout when Eevee suddenly came up behind him and knocked him out with a metal pipe. Everyone was shocked. 

"That guy was going to make me insane!" Eevee said to them. They then realized that he was covered in scratches and bruises. "You think we could lock him up before we leave?"

"Definitely! He was the one who turned the Aura Reader into a Riolu, right?" Shaymin said. "Accident or not, he boasts about what he did all the time. I hear him all the time when no one's around. Apparently Mismagius promised that he could have the human world and he was going to turn them all into pokemon."

"I never knew that!" Eevee said. "And even though I don't really like to say it, I'm around him constantly! He never let me out of his sights! He must have been serious if he didn't even let it slip around me." 

Shaymin unlocked their cell door. The four of them got out and Eevee threw Honchkrow in. In the other room was a giant teleporter that seemed to be completely built by that time. 

"Now all we need is the power source." Eevee said. 

"And here it is, right on time!" Shaymin pointed over at a wall. Daisy came through the wall with a bag over her shoulder and holding, to their surprise, the Grace-Seed. "Now that we have the Grace-Seed, I can teleport us anywhere in your world, but I think I've already found a good place. Actually I used to call it home before Mismagius showed up." 

They all got into the teleporter. It was roomy on the inside, but still seemed a little eerie the way the rest of the place did. Shaymin took the Grace-Seed and both he and the Grace-Seed started glowing. The teleporter powered up and Eevee started it. None of them seemed to understand anything of what Eevee was doing to work the teleporter except for Shadow.

It felt like there was an earthquake of some kind. They started spinning or something; none of them could really tell what was going on. Eevee had his fingers crossed. They couldn't really afford for it not to work. Suddenly the teleporter crashed into solid ground and broke apart. All of them went flying out and landed less than okay in the grass.

It was familiar to Aamira. The grass was cool and damp, as was the air. After a second to catch her breath she opened her eyes and realized at once where they had ended up; it was Shroud Lake. 

"You used to live at Shroud Lake?" Aamira said excitedly. "Wow, who would have thought! I bet that was a statue of you that they found here. It's in the museum now and being jealously guarded by Shedinja." She rolled onto her back. "Wow I can't believe I remember that. It seems like all of that happened such a long time ago! It doesn't seem real!" 

"I know what you mean." Shaymin said. "This isn't the lake I remember. The last time I was here, light was pouring down from above and glistening on the crystal clear water. All around the lakefront, Gracidia Flowers would bloom. It was then I would transform and fly off to home." 

"What do you mean by home?" Quill asked. "I thought you said you lived here." 

"Home to the light pokemon." He answered. "The world of light; opposite of that dark, depressing world we just came from in every way. The entrance sits on top of the clouds, but no normal pokemon can go there simply by flying. No, home is only found by Aura Readers and the legends. That's what Mismagius is after. It's said that all Aura Readers know about the world of light as if it's a part of them, but it takes them time to realize it." 

Lucario wasn't listening. He was busy digging around at the base of a tree. After a while he pulled out a gem that looked like the crescent moon on Aamira's scarf. 

"What is that?" Aamira felt as if some sort of overwhelming power was coming from it, thought it didn't seem like an evil power and was strangely attracting to her. 

"It's called the Nightmare Gem. This is why my aura is different from a lot of pokemon's. My father gave it to me. It was the royal gem and the sign of the true king of Atra." 

"Atra?" Quill said. "Was that the name of the city we came from?"

Lucario nodded. "The name never was important in recent times. It's not surprising that you didn't know it. If this is the key to the world of darkness, then I'm sure there's another gem like this that's the key to the world of the light." 

"You might be right." Shaymin said. "My way to the world of light was cut off, obviously so I couldn't escape from Mismagius, although I've done a pretty good job of it so far, but we might be able to find another way." 

There was the sound of a rush of feet and they were surrounded by Growlith. 

"Alright, a fight!" Shadow growled. 

"Wait, don't!" Aamira said. "They're on our side! They think Lucario's a villain though."

Arcanine came through the circle of Growlith and stopped in front of them. "Lucario, you're under arrest for the kidnapping of Team Sleuth." 

"Do we look like we were kidnapped to you?" Quill said. 

Arcanine looked around at the seven pokemon and the wreckage of the teleporter, obviously more confused than she had been lately. After a while she sighed. "Alright, I'll take you all to Noctowl. If you can explain what's going on, we might let you off the hook."


	33. Chapter 33 Family Secrets

"So you mean to tell me that Mismagius was the shadow all along and that Lucario didn't kidnap you?" Noctowl turned to Espeon and Alakazam. "I'm convinced. They told us themselves." 

"Now hold on!" Alakazam turned on Aamira. "You were a human who turned into a pokemon, that we know for sure, but what are the odds that you would be friends with Lucario and meet after all this time?" 

"Don't you believe in destiny?" Lucario asked. "They say that one strong aura attracts another. It was fate that we met before, it was fate that Aamira met Quill when we were separated, and it was fate that all three of us met and were luckily on the same side." 

"I wasn't asking you though, was I?" Alakazam turned back to Aamira. 

"But I don't think I could have said it any better than that." Aamira said with a weak smile. 

"I think you're being a little harsh on them." Espeon said to Alakazam in her usual soft voice. 

"And I think you're being too soft!" Alakazam said to Espeon. "They're kids; so what! One of them is a legendary pokemon, two of them are Investigation Team members, The Umbreon certainly doesn't act like a kid though he's obviously the youngest, and one is a criminal! The only two who seem to be here by accident are Eevee and that Banette. And of course, and I'm sure I speak for all of us, not one believes it was originally a doll!"

"That world of darkness…" Aamira said so quietly that it was hard for anyone to hear. "I understand why you don't believe it's real… I understand why you don't believe any of this… That other world was probably the worst place we had ever been… But you're the only one who doesn't believe us…"

"It's too farfetched to believe! And if anyone else had any common sense, they wouldn't believe you either! I know Arcanine wouldn't. And what's an Aura Reader! I've never even heard of such a thing. The abilities you say they possess are ridiculous!"

Aamira smirked. "I get it now… The ability to learn anything by simply touching something or thinking about something… You're jealous of me." 

"Me? Jealous of you?" He said. "Don't be crazy!" 

"That's enough, Alakazam." Noctowl said. "I never doubted their story from the beginning and it's obvious that you've been suspicious of Aamira from the start. And things only got worse when Quill graduated without even trying, am I right?" 

Alakazam didn't say anything. 

"Let's just be grateful that our best Investigation Team has finally come home." Espeon said. 

"Then you're grateful to Shaymin?" Shaymin asked happily. 

Espeon laughed. "Very grateful." 

"Noctowl…" Aamira said. "I've been wondering this for a while now. You always seem to know when trouble's going to pop up. You even sort of knew that I would be at Shroud Lake that day. Could you be an Aura Reader?" 

Noctowl nodded. "I didn't want to say anything. I could sense that bad times were ahead and I could tell that you were connected somehow, though I couldn't tell how. At one point I thought that perhaps you were the human from that legend written in not only Divum, but Tempestas and some parts of Ignis as well. I was wrong, of course. It was Mismagius. Now I'm convinced that you and Quill are meant to save the world along with Lucario." Noctowl walked up the stairs and came back a few seconds later holding an amulet shaped like the sun. "So I will tell you how to get to Desolo, the kingdom of light." 

"You've actually been there!" Quill said. 

"Of course. Though I'm a flying type so it's a lot easier for me. You'll have to take a slightly different approach." 

"That amulet and Lucario's look like the sun and moon on my scarf." Aamira said. 

"There's the world of dark, which is home to the Nightmare Gem, the world of light, which is home to the Dream Amulet, and then this world, known as the world of shadows, which has no gem, but instead the Aura Readers would wear scarves with a symbol that's a combination of the two. That symbol stands for peace, equality, and harmony between not only light and dark, but between all pokemon." 

"But isn't darkness evil?" Aamira asked. "The aura that an Aura Reader has is light, of course; it says that in Divum's legend, so wouldn't the only good person in the world of darkness be the king?" 

"You've got a lot to learn." Noctowl said simply. 

Shadow wasn't paying attention; he was staring at the amulet. "That looks familiar… I know I've seen that somewhere before…"

"But you come from the world of darkness." Quill said. "How would that be possible?" 

"I know I saw that somewhere before… I think it was my mom. She used to wear an amulet like that." 

Espeon walked up to him. "You're name… You said it was Shadow, didn't you?" 

"Yes, that's ri—" Shadow stopped in mid sentence. "Sorry, but I don't know that any of us have said my name the whole time we've been here…" 

"It's exactly what you think." Noctowl said to Espeon. 

Espeon smiled and hugged Shadow. "My son's back! I don't believe it!" 

Shadow looked as shocked as everyone else there. (Minus Noctowl.) "You're… my mom…?" Shadow stepped back from Espeon a little. His voice had changed in a way that finally matched his age. "P-Prove it!" 

Espeon started to sing a lullaby that sounded vaguely familiar to not only Shadow, but to Quill, Aamira, Lucario, and Daisy as well. 

"That… That song…" Shadow had tears in his eyes. "I hear that song in my dreams all the time…" 

Aamira put her hands behind her head and leaned back against the wall. "And I have the strangest feeling that the music box you gave me before we left wasn't really meant for me…" 

Quill looked at Aamira for a second then at Espeon. "You're not…?" 

Espeon smiled again. "I'm so sorry, Quill!" Then she hugged Quill. "You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you! Every day having to struggle to keep it a secret! I didn't want to, believe me!"

"So… Why didn't you tell me…?" Quill asked, feeling a little hurt. 

"I'm not from this world." Espeon said. "My family and I come from Desolo. Something happened one day and we accidentally got sent to this world. The seven of us were scattered all over the world. My brother, Shadow, was never found, though the rest of us keep in touch now. That's why I named my second son "Shadow" after my brother who was presumed to be dead. I ended up in Ignis where I met your father. More precisely, I ended up on Lava Lava Island."

"You've got to be kidding…" Aamira said flatly. 

"You know what happened, of course. After the two of us escaped, you and Shadow were both still eggs at the time, we lived in Ignis for a while. Then when someone was kidnapped, we figured that the shadow, apparently Mismagius, had followed us. You had hatched by that time, Quill. So even though it hurt, I had to leave Ignis with the two of you. When we were almost in Sylva, you hatched, Shadow, but you were kidnapped when you were only a few days old." 

"Mismagius uses incantations to make people think they've seen something." Aamira said. "You're little brother never died; he's Shadow!" 

Quill seemed to be in shock. Why wouldn't he be? After all of these years of thinking he was an orphan, of thinking that his little brother had died because of him, both of them were now standing right in front of him. 

"Yes. Quill kept muttering about his little brother dying and it being all his fault. After a while he completely forgot who I was, which I began to think was a good thing. I thought that Mismagius had accidentally kidnapped Shadow thinking that he was the next leader of Lava Lava Island. But it's always the first born in the family, in other words, Quill. So I distanced myself from you in hopes that it would help to protect you, but it looks like it didn't really matter. I couldn't ignore you though, so I became a teacher and even hinted to you once that you were my son. Remember? I told you my son was in an Investigation Team and that the team's name wouldn't mean much to you. Obviously it wouldn't have because it was your own team." She was quiet for a minute. "I had a feeling that the day would come when you would have to go to Desolo…" 

"You're referring to the legend?" Shaymin asked. "Darker days arrive, nights spread and thrive. Two of the same meet through the mirror, a voice lingering no one else could hear. Four heroes led from different worlds, the secret keeper, the guardian, the balance, the light, arrive in the world for the final fight. But in the end when the mirror turns, for the four, there need not be concerns. One will live, one will be joyous, one will come home, and one unsealed. For the aura the last is easily revealed." 

"My head hurts…" Aamira said. 

"Mind translating into English?" Lucario asked. 

"Sorry, but no one knows what the whole thing means. Why do Aura Readers like riddles so much? Nearly always what they hear when Aura Reading is in riddles! All we know is that four heroes will come, each from different worlds, to the world of light and save it from the spreading darkness." 

"Lucario the guardian, Shaymin the light, Quill the balance, and… I guess I would be the secret keeper? Unless that would be Espeon…" Aamira said absentmindedly. 

"It's not me." Espeon said. "Only the light person is supposed to come from the world of light. I thought that would be obvious. So obviously I can't be both light and secret keeper." 

"But I'm not keeping any secrets." Aamira smirked. "At least I won't be when I tell Quill that his dad is the Typhlosion form Team Blazer." 

"Nothing surprises me anymore…" He said. "Is that why you looked so stunned at the tournament when we got separated and you teamed up with Typhlosion?" 

"Yup. That, and Charmeleon told me once that you came from Ember City." 

Quill looked at her stunned. "So you knew pretty much this whole time? I'm starting to hate Aura Readers…" 

Espeon laughed. "Well get used to it, Quill. Not only is she your partner, but since you seem to think of her as a sister so much, I guess I would have to consider Aamira to be a daughter." 

Aamira looked around at Shadow, Quill, and Espeon. They were all looking at her expectantly. Aamira turned to Lucario who was grinning and ignoring her to some extent. Everyone except Alakazam, who was still acting bitter, laughed. 

"There's something I've been wondering about though." Lucario said. "Isn't the music box that Espeon gave to Quill before the two of you left the same as the one in my world that Aamira brought with her? I bet they even look the same." 

"They come from different worlds." Shaymin said. "Since there's a music box in that world, there's one in this world. And for every person in one dimension there's a person in the other. I think that Quill and Aamira might actually be opposites from different worlds. And since Quill's mom gave him the music box, it must have been Aamira's dad that gave it to her. Just a thought though. And I guess if that's true then Aamira and Quill really would technically be brother and sister in a weird other dimension sort of way."

"What about that part of the legend? 'Two of the same meet', do you think that could mean us?" Aamira asked. 

"It says 'two of the same meet through the mirror.'" Shadow reminded them. "'A voice no one else could hear.' What does that part mean?" 

Espeon gasped. "I just remembered something from when Quill was younger. He used to go to Shroud Lake a lot to meet someone. Only when I followed him there, he was just talking to the fog. Literally talking to the fog. There would always be an especially thick patch of fog near Quill and he would be talking to it. When I asked him once who he was talking to, he said, 'My friend from that other Vine City. Her name is Life.' It happened so long ago that I thought it was just a dream if I could ever remember it at all." 

"Well Aamira's name does mean 'full of life' even though that wasn't her name in the human world. Not that I know of anyway." Lucario said. 

"But I don't get the part about the mirror." Shaymin said. "Maybe that means Shroud Lake would be a mirror? I guess so since it's the way into Desolo… But just into Desolo, not into the human dimension." 

"I hate my life…" Aamira said. A few people laughed and it took her a minute to realize what she said that was so funny. "Wait, life! The end of the legend says 'one will live'. Is that something to do with me?"

"Who knows?" Shaymin said irritably. "But maybe we shouldn't spend so much time talking and spend more time figuring out what our next move will be." 

"Or maybe you should start with explaining what's going on." Aamira said to Shaymin. "You just happened to end up in this world, and then go to the dark world just to rescue us so we can save your world? What exactly is going on?" 

Shaymin hesitated and the next second his flowers started glowing. Before any of them knew what was going on, they were apparently floating through space.

Aamira got distracted by something they were floating next to. "What is that?" 

"Leave it to an Aura Reader to notice the Origin Egg first. Hang on and I'll explain. First off, I'm sorry for lying, but I didn't just come to this world, I was sent here, exiled, by the rest of the Shaymin. You have no idea how horrible that was. I was supposed to be the Shaymin that guards the Looking Glass, which is one of the many legendary pokemon treasures we keep in Desolo. The Looking Glass is the most powerful though, because anyone who can somehow obtain the ability to travel through dimensions would be able to go anywhere in any world, or even where there is no world at all, like here. 

"Mismagius snuck into Desolo once before. Her intention then was to steal as many of the best treasures as she could. She got quite a few before she was cornered at the tower where the Looking Glass is kept. I think now her objective has changed. Though still interested in stealing the treasures, she's mostly after the Looking Glass, though I don't think she has the ability to travel through dimensions, she obviously has something up her sleeve. 

"I think what she's trying to do is get here. We're literally in the middle of nowhere. More precisely, we're in the middle of nothing." 

"In the beginning, there was nothing but a swirling turmoil of chaos. And in the center of that chaos, an egg appeared." Aamira said. "I have no idea what I just said…" 

"You're right though. At least, according to that ancient legend. That's what happened and that's what's written in the legend of what happened, and this," Shaymin moved closer to the Origin Egg, "is the egg mentioned in the legend. This is what the first pokemon was said to have come from. A powerful legendary pokemon named Arceus. After the universe was created, Arceus fell into a deep sleep. It was the first legendary to ever be sealed inside its own treasure. 

"This treasure is the center of nothing, and nothing is the center of everything. But nothing is really hard to reach, because hardly anyone can understand it. Not even I really know what nothing is or how to get there; this is merely just an illusion I'm showing you. I think… I KNOW that Mismagius is trying to find out how to get here to find the Origin Egg. If she's able to do that, she'll destroy both the human and pokemon dimension and all of the worlds in both of those dimensions. 

Everyone looked a bit shocked. 

"She would really destroy everything!" Espeon said. "And everyone too!" 

Shaymin crossed his arms. "You see why this is such a problem. But there's more to it. If Mismagius can destroy the two dimensions, then she can create up to two more in their place and do whatever she wants. She would be the absolute ruler of every world. She could create horrible creatures to do whatever she commanded. Of course, that wouldn't matter to us, because we would be gone unless she decides to keep someone around for some reason."

"She'll… destroy everything…" Quill was shaking from head to foot. "We have to stop this…"

"Exactly." Shaymin said. "And as selfish as my reasons might be, I want to help you get to Desolo to save the world."

"I get it now…" Aamira said flatly. "You failed at guarding the Looking Glass and now you can't get back unless we help. What are we to you, a bunch of dogs?" 

"Well, two of you are I think. But I think Quill's a mouse." He said slyly. 

The illusion of space that he was showing them slowly disappeared. 

"Okay, so we know what we're up against and what we have to do." Lucario said. "Now we just have to figure out a way to get to Desolo." 

"I think I might already know how…" Aamira said so softly that her voice was almost a whisper. "Quill, you remember right before we left to go to Ignis Mismagius asked Machop and Haunter to help her with a mission? I bet that Forbidden Forest might be something like a back door into the world of light." 

"Yea, I remember that pattern Haunter touched on that stone slab." Quill said. "It was really old and worn away, but I'm sure of it now. It was just like the Dream Amulet. I'm sure that must be the way in." 

"For now I think we should rest and prepare for the journey. Who knows if we'll be able to come back here right after we find the way in? So tomorrow we'll head to Forbidden Forest to investigate." Lucario turned to Noctowl. "One more thing. Don't tell anyone that we've come back." 

"What?" Everyone turned to Lucario. 

"We're a step ahead of Mismagius at the moment, but I don't think it will stay that way for long. The longer she doesn't know where we are, the better. Tell everyone that there was some sort of explosion down at Shroud Lake and that you don't know what happened. If Mismagius thinks that we're out of the way, she'll stop looking, though she might start looking harder for Desolo since she wouldn't be able to force Aamira to find it for her. Either way, it will keep her busy for a while."

"Alright then." Noctowl said. "As sneaky as the three of you have had to be lately, I suspect that getting to your team base will be no problem? But if you don't mind, I'll be sending someone over later tonight. He has something that might be able to help you." 

Seeing as how their group consisted of Aamira, Lucario, Quill, Shadow, Eevee, Shaymin, and Daisy, they all considered it a miracle that they all made it back to their base without being spotted. Machop and haunter were surprised to see them all turn up there, of course, and especially with all the other pokemon that they hadn't even met. In fact, since they hardly even knew Lucario, that meant that they only knew two of the seven pokemon that turned up.

And of course they had tons of questions about what had happened to them. Aamira told most of the story since, in almost everyone's opinion, it mostly had to do with her. Although Lucario and Shaymin had to clear a few points up and Quill jumped in a few times including the part where he found out that Shadow was his brother and Espeon was his mom. Eevee and Shadow did a bit of talking too since no one really knew their whole story. By the time everyone was done talking, Aamira had fallen asleep on the couch. 

"I don't blame her for falling asleep after all we've been through. It seems like it was a while ago, but that scene between her and Mismagius only happened earlier today." Shadow said. 

There was a knocked on the door and a Persian came in. "Noctowl told me to bring you a few items."

"Aren't you from the Appraisal?" Quill asked. 

"Not that you would really know considering you don't ever go there." Persian said sourly.

"Well we never had any good stuff to trade." Quill said timidly.

Persian rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Noctowl wanted me to bring some items for Lucario and Aamira." Persian took a bag from around his neck and handed it to Lucario. Then he turned to Aamira who was still asleep. "HEY! WAKE UP, WILL YOU!" 

Aamira jumped up and fired an Aura Sphere at Persian, then looked around confused. "What's going on…? 

Persian got up painfully. "This is the thanks I get for getting those rare items for you!" 

Aamira crossed her arms. "Well you didn't have to wake me up. I've had a long day." 

"Listen!" Persian said as though Aamira hadn't said anything. "You can only borrow these to stop Mismagius! And to ensure I get them back, I want something of yours which I'll trade back. Something really important to you." 

Aamira sighed and took off her scarf. "This is what you want, right? Go ahead, but I want it back." 

Persian snatched it greedily from Aamira's hand. "Excellent! One of a kind! Never before seen!"

"Are you sure about that?" Lucario asked Aamira. 

"Sure I'm sure." She said. "I won't really need it so I can use my abilities since we'll be together, and based off of the Dream Amulet's name I'm guessing I won't have any nightmares if I wear that instead." 

Lucario turned to Persian who was still looking greedily at the scarf. "Now listen here. I don't want us to come back to find that you've sold it to someone! That scarf was made for Aamira and it's not just an exaggeration when I say it won't work for anyone else. To anyone else it would just be a piece of cloth." 

"Really? Then I'm guessing you wouldn't dare steal those items if you need it that much." Persian grinned slyly and walked out. 

"So what items did Noctowl want you to have?" Eevee asked. 

Lucario pulled the two items out of the small bag that Persian had given him. "They're rings of some sort." 

"I know what they are!" Eevee said. "They're called Emit Rings. They let Lucario and Riolu hit ghost type pokemon with fighting and normal type attacks easier." 

"What are the odds?" Aamira said. "That's pretty lucky, huh? I'm sort of glad I turned into a Riolu now." 

Lucario put one of the Emit Rings on his right hand and handed the other one to Aamira. 

Quill started trying to keep himself from laughing. Everyone turned to him curiously. It took a second for Aamira to realize what he was laughing about and started blushing. At that point Quill burst into laughter, unable to hold it back any longer. Luckily for Aamira, only Quill and herself knew what he was laughing about. (And Daisy, who no one noticed, was laughing silently behind the couch.) 

"What's he laughing about?" Lucario asked Aamira. 

"Nothing!" Aamira realized that she said this too soon and too loud and turned away so Lucario wouldn't notice that her face had turned completely red. 

Quill was still on the floor laughing so hard that his laugh was silent. 

"Seriously, what's going on!" Lucario asked. 

"You already know." Shaymin said to him. 

Though they might have imagined it, everyone thought that Lucario had actually blushed slightly. 

"Aamira, you can stop hiding your face. Lucario's known for a while, isn't that right mister prince charming?" Shaymin said. This time Lucario really did blush. "He can sense aura, so why would it surprise you that he wouldn't be able to tell how you feel?" 

"Let's just get this out of the way now…" Quill was still laughing slightly and had tears in his eyes. "You both like each other so stop being so shy around each other!" 

Aamira ran off to her room without saying anything else. 

"I think you two might have gone a little far…" Lucario said to Quill and Shaymin. 

"Whatever, messing with her like that was too much fun!" Shaymin laughed. 

Quill looked a bit guilty though and ran off towards her room. "I'm going to make sure she's okay…" 

"They really are like brother and sister…" Shaymin said. "I don't get it. I thought in the world of darkness it was everyone for themselves, but even you seem to care." 

"Of course I care." Lucario snapped at him. "Unlike you. You're just using us so you can go back home! But if it was up to us, I doubt any of us would want you to go back and not because we enjoy your company." 

Quill had been knocking on Aamira's door for some time, but she didn't answer. Fearing that she might have done something stupid like run away again, he walked in. Aamira was standing next to the window staring up at the sky. 

"Aamira, are you okay?" Quill asked. 

"I can't believe I never saw it before…" She said absentmindedly. 

"Never saw what?" Quill asked. "I know we shouldn't have been teasing you like that, but Lucario likes you and you like him, so what's the big deal?" 

"Not that; I'm over it." 

Quill was somewhat surprised. "So what were you talking about then?" 

Aamira didn't turn towards Quill. "Those voices. The ones only I can here…" 

Then Quill realized what she was talking about. In the legend one of the phrases was 'a voice no one else could here'. "You've been hearing voices? Why didn't you say anything before?" 

"I don't really know. But I can hear them better now, I don't know why. They're calling out. They're telling me to go to Desolo." 

'This is sort of scary…' Quill thought and he knew that Aamira was feeling the same way. "Are those voices saying how to get there…?" 

"There are too many. They're our friends that have been turned into shadow pokemon. They're fighting back and I hear their voices asking for help." Aamira's hands started shaking. "But one of them is different from the others. It sounds farther away and louder at the same time. But I still can't tell what its saying." 

"What if it's Mismagius? If it's louder than the others and you can't tell what the voice is saying, don't you think it would be?" 

"I don't know. Maybe. My brain is saying that it is, but my instincts are telling me it's not." 

"That's weird…" Quill said. 

Aamira turned around. "It's gone." 

"So we're back to where we started?" Quill said. 

"Well at least we know that at least one person in Desolo is expecting us. I'm sure that voice was someone from Desolo." 

"But how could you hear them from here?" 

Aamira shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe they're psychic or something." 

Lucario came in. "Sorry for barging in like this, but I can't take any more of Shaymin." Lucario looked around at the two of them. "What's wrong, the two of you look like you've seen —"

"It might be better if you don't finish that sentence." Aamira said. 

"We didn't see anything, but I think Aamira might be hearing ghosts or something. She says that she's hearing the voice of someone in Desolo." Quill's voice was shaking slightly.

"If that's true, maybe we shouldn't hold off until morning to investigate the Forbidden Forest." Lucario said with a dark look in his eyes.


	34. Chapter 34 Journey to Desolo

Noctowl looked out his window over Vine City. The sky was darkening and pokemon all over the town were getting ready for bed. Then, with his vision that seemed too good to be allowed, he spotted four pokemon moving stealthily through the bushes and undergrowth below. It was Team Sleuth. 

'I had a feeling they would have the urge to investigate the Forbidden Forest tonight. Something's leading them there, whether to help them or to capture them in a trap. All four of them are strong, but I still can't shake this feeling of foreboding.' 

"Elder Noctowl." 

Noctowl turned in surprise. It was Alakazam, one of his closest friends and the headmaster of the academy. "You haven't called me that in a long time. I thought we were above calling each other by our titles, 'headmaster' Alakazam. Or do you feel the same dread that I do?" 

"All of those years you were our leader in Team Psy and you never mentioned being an Aura Reader? Weren't we your friends?" Alakazam asked. "Guess it doesn't matter now. You probably told Weavile all about it though." 

"Guilt is not a good weapon and it never should be used as one." Noctowl turned away and stared out of the window. Team Sleuth was probably long gone by now. "But tell me, what exactly do you have against Quill and Aamira?" 

"I don't have anything against them." Alakazam said. 

"That's not what I've seen. And I have good eyes. Putting that mission in Jungle Overgrow in front of the others where they could clearly see it when they were still a normal rank team and knowing full well that there would be a storm. Leading Togetic to Team Sleuth when there were plenty of other Investigation Teams more capable for the job when you knew full well that she was being blackmailed by the collectors to lead an Investigation Team there. Obviously not knowing that Team Night was behind the collectors. And wasn't it your suggestion to send them on their first messenger job the day after Charmeleon escaped? It seems to me you've had it in for them from the very beginning." 

Alakazam's eyes flashed nervously towards the door. "If that's true and I did do all of that, why didn't you stop me?" 

Noctowl, still staring out of the window, closed his eyes and smirked. "Because I knew they would be able to get past all of your traps." 'Traps… Their hunch on going tonight instead of tomorrow morning like they told all of us they were going to do might have been for the best. Now Alakazam doesn't know. And no matter what his intentions might have been, I'm sure he's planning on placing some sort of trap in Forbidden Forest.'

Noctowl heard a familiar sound from behind him and leaned to the right to easily avoid a Psybeam. Noctowl turned and faced Alakazam, who looked terrified by how easily Noctowl had dodged his attack. 

"N-Noctowl!" He stammered. 

Noctowl looked sadly at his friend. "Why didn't I notice how you've started to change? What happened to the Kadabra I used to know? Not even evolution could change a pokemon so much…" 

"Noctowl!" Alakazam said again.

"Maybe my eyes aren't as good as I thought they were." 

"NOCTOWL!" Alakazam ran at him and pushed him to the side. Before Noctowl could tell what was going on, Alakazam was lying unconscious on the floor and Mismagius was drifting through the window. 

Noctowl looked around confused for a moment before he realized what was going on. 

"You could sense me, couldn't you?" Mismagius asked Noctowl. "So, Team Sleuth is still here, as I suspected. Which means so is the one I'm really after." 

"Who is it that you're after?" Noctowl asked. 

"Anyone showing any remarkable abilities. But I have to say, I wasn't expecting Quill to be one of the ones I was after before he joined up with Aamira and Lucario. And I certainly wasn't expecting you, an old washed up bird, to be an Aura Reader." 

"We know what you're planning. What good will destroying the world do you? Even if you could create another world any way you wanted, what would you do then? Just watch your loyal followers until you get bored and start everything over again?" 

"You don't get it at all. I'm after more than that." She smirked. "But why spoil the surprise? As an Aura Reader, you're an enemy to me, so I see no reason to destroy you right away. You'll join the rest of them in the new world." 

"I don't understand why you would want to save your enemies." 

"It would be boring without an enemy. And when I take care of all of you for good, I'm sure that a new threat would eventually rise and try to defeat me. Eventually they might figure out a way to defeat me. But until then, I'm unstoppable. I'll always come back to wreak havoc and I'll always be able to see new faces every time and have more, unique fun, every time I come back since every time I'll have a new enemy." 

"So this is all just a game to you? You're toying with people's lives and you don't care at all? You're telling me that you're just doing all of this for some sick amusement!" 

"Toying with people's lives, Noctowl?" Mismagius said in a fake mortified voice. "How dare you accuse me of such a thing! I would never do anything like that. And I don't think you understand. The Origin Egg is the beginning of everything and EVERYONE. Not only can I create the world in the way I want it to, but I can also create an entirely new variety of pokemon… or even bring some back that have long since disappeared. Even certain individuals if I choose to."

Noctowl didn't say anything. 'She couldn't know… She can't mean what I think she does…'

Mismagius had disappeared, but her voice whispered in Noctowl's ear as if she were floating right next to him. 'I can bring it all back, if you just do what I say. Every friend you used to have, every family member… They would all come back…" 

'I have to do it…' Noctowl shook is head. "No, never! I know no one ever joins you willingly. You're always using mind control to force them to join." 

"There's no such thing as mind control." Mismagius said. "Though I admit to controlling people like puppets, they still have a free mind but aren't in control of their own actions. The pokemon that join me of their free will have a choice. I make a promise and they join because they know I'll keep it. Whether it's bringing back a loved one or fame and riches, they believe me without knowing why, but knowing that I wouldn't betray them." 

"Well I don't believe you. You're nothing to me. And now I think I know the reason you disguise yourself as a shadow; because you're just a shadow of your former self, am I right?"

"You insolent bird pokemon!" Mismagius's voice screamed in Noctowl's head, causing him to cringe in pain. "I am greater than I ever was as an Aura Reader! Or as a human!" the voice was now coming from the street below. "If you think you're any better than me, then prove it!"

"I have no intention of fighting you, Mismagius." Noctowl shouted out of the window. "I only want to understand what you're doing why you're doing it. And perhaps there is some way I can help you." 

Mismagius laughed. "Help me? You thought your friend had turned against you. But even though he had tried to attack me earlier to protect you, you couldn't do anything to help him!" 

Noctowl turned to Alakazam, who was still lying on the ground. He had almost stopped breathing and he was still unconscious. Whatever attack Mismagius had used had hit him hard. Noctowl couldn't help thinking that it could have been him. He could have even been in worse condition since he was older than Alakazam. If only he hadn't been so blind to think that Alakazam was attacking him, maybe neither of them would have been hurt. 

Blinded by anger, Noctowl flew out of the window and attacked Mismagius. Mismagius and Noctowl matched each other powerful attack to powerful attack. They seemed to be evenly matched. The ruckus that they were making was enough that soon the whole city had come out of their houses to watch. 

'Excellent!' Mismagius thought as she dodged one of Noctowl's attacks and sent another one back at him. 'Noctowl has fallen for it and everyone in the city is here to watch. None of them know I'm the villain thanks to Lucario and Noctowl's overconfidence. The stage is set, the pieces are in place, and soon Desolo will be mine!' 

"Are we there yet?" Shaymin asked for about the hundredth time. 

"No!" Snapped Lucario, Quill, and Aamira all at the same time. 

Shaymin groaned. "Why did the secret to finding Desolo have to be in such a creepy place? It's so sunny there, you would think it would be hidden somewhere equally sunny."

"Well tough luck." Quill said. "It's always dark here. The trees are so tall they block out the sun completely. It almost reminds me of Atra." 

Aamira crossed her arms behind her head. "Forget the forest; can someone remind me why we had to take the hedgehog with us?" 

"He's been to Desolo. As much as we don't like it, he might be useful." Lucario said. 

Shaymin screwed up his face. "You know, I'm beginning to think the three of you don't like me."

No one said anything. 

"I think we're almost there." Aamira said. "We should be by now. We've been walking in this forest for a while now." 

Shaymin groaned. "Finally!" 

A few minutes later the found the stone that was the entrance to the dungeon. 

"I don't know how this could be the secret to finding Desolo, but it's a start…" Aamira took the Dream Amulet from around her neck and held it up to the worn mark on the stone. It started to glow a gold-yellow color and a symbol that looked like the sun-shaped Dream Amulet appeared. A yellow line spread from the top and bottom of the stars to the edge of the stone. Then both halves of the stone slab swung forward like a door. Inside was a forest that seemed the exact opposite of the forest they were in now. The trees were lush and green and the air was filled with golden pollen which was glowing brightly in the silvery light that was shining through the leaves on the high trees. 

"Is that… Desolo?" Quill asked, sounding unconvinced. 

"It's too easy." Lucario said. "If it were this easy then Mismagius would have stolen the Dream Amulet and would've come here long ago." 

"Desolo sure would look different from when I was there last. Maybe she's just toying with us." Shaymin said.

"I'm not convinced either." Aamira said. "Let's go check it out." 

Aamira went in followed by Lucario and Quill, but when Shaymin took a step towards it, the doors closed and crumbled. There was no sign of the forest that had existed on the other side. 

Shaymin looked around in a panic. The three of them had gone through the door right before the stone crumbled away. Shaymin was still out there, but now the three of them were stuck inside. "What do I do now!" Shaymin picked up one of the stones from the collapsed monument. "Oh man, if I go back to Vine City alone, everyone will think I caused this to happen! I can't go forward or back now!" 

The forest hadn't looked real before the three of them had stepped through the doors. Lucario looked back. There wasn't any sign of where they had come from. 

"I guess we just move forward from here." Lucario said. "This place seems strangely familiar." 

"I know what you mean." Aamira said. 

Lucario took the lead and Quill and Aamira lingered behind. 

"I'm not sure about this." Quill said. "I have the strange feeling that I know a place like this but I've never been here. It feels like something weird is going to happen." 

"It sort of reminds me of the library." Aamira said. "The way the light is shining through the trees is almost the same, and the pollen is reflecting in the light like the dust does in the library." 

"I don't think that's it." Quill said. "None of us is really even deciding where to go. It's almost like we're walking down a familiar path." 

Lucario stopped suddenly. "Look. A dungeon entrance." 

"Are you sure?" Aamira looked ahead. There was a group of trees too close together to get past. There was a gap in the roots of a larger tree. The tree was so big that just the gap between the roots seemed to be around twenty feet high. There was no way it could be anything but a dungeon. 

"I think I know where we are now!" Quill said. "I read about it while I was at the academy. The nickname of this place is the shining forest. They say in the center of it is a dungeon called the Forest of Time. It's apparently been lost for thousands of years though. No one's seen it in so long."

"So we're the first people to come here in some time then. It looks like we won't be running into any familiar enemies here then." Lucario looked around. "Where did Shaymin go?"

"I thought he was right behind us." Aamira said. 

Quill shrugged. "He probably chickened out or something. Let's keep going and we'll worry about him later." 

The inside of the dungeon was no different than the outside. Lush green grass that felt too soft to be real covered the ground. The beauty of the dungeon put the three of them into some sort of trance. Their movements became automatic and they attacked any pokemon that attacked them without thinking about what attack to use. The three of them hardly talked at all as they moved through the dungeon. 

It was so amazing. It was filled with both machine-like pokemon and prehistoric pokemon. Every now and then they would pass a pool of water where they might see an Omanyte, a Kabuto, or even a Relicanth. There were also some psychic types, mainly Abra which were mostly asleep and easy to avoid, Kirlia, Natu, and Xatu. There were some normal types too like Buneary, Rattata, and Pidgey. The farther into the dungeon the three of them went, the stronger the pokemon became. 

Finally Aamira had to say something to break the silence. "Hey… You don't think that… the way we're feeling now might be how the dungeon pokemon feel before they lose their minds?" 

Lucario and Quill snapped out of their trances. 

"I hadn't thought of that." Lucario said in a voice that was barely a whisper. 

"Why'd you think that?" Quill asked Aamira. 

"It's so quiet here… It feels like we shouldn't disrupt the peace here. The silence here was scaring me, I guess." Aamira said, also in a whisper. 

"It feels like there's some sort of magic covering this forest." Lucario said. "Some sort of strong aura leading us to the end of this maze of a dungeon." 

"It's that voice." Aamira said. "That voice that I can hear… Whoever it was that was talking to me had an aura like this. I'm sure of it." 

"Hey, if this is the Forest of Time, I wonder where we'll end up." Quill said. 

"Only one way to find out." Lucario said, still in a whisper but a bit louder than any of them had talked so far. The three of them continued walking. 

Aamira stepped on a strange patch of grass. The grass started glowing and disappeared and a trap tile appeared under it. Some spikes flew up from it and dug into Aamira. She suddenly started to feel sick.

"Oh no, a Toxic Spikes trap." Quill started looking through his bag. "And we don't have any Pecha Berries. 

"Then we'll just have to hurry." Lucario picked Aamira up off of the ground and started carrying her on his back.

It was lucky that they made it out. They had to go three more floors before finding the exit. But even once they got out of the dungeon, Aamira's poison didn't go away. 

"But I thought that paralysis, poisoning, and burns were supposed to go away once we got to the next floor. Even when we got out of the dungeon Aamira's poison didn't go away." Quill said.

"Looks like the rules here are different." Lucario kept walking. "Let's try to find a way out. I think that's the only way we'd be able to shake off the poison." 

"No…" Aamira said weakly. "The way to Desolo is up ahead. I can feel it. We have to keep going."

"Are you sure it's right up ahead?" Lucario asked. 

"Mismagius says that Aura Readers know how to get there, remember? I can't explain it; I just know." She said.

"Maybe we should keep going." Quill said. "When we get to the end we might be able to find a way out and find out how to get to Desolo." 

"Good point." The two of them started walking again, Lucario still carrying Aamira on his back.

"Okay, now I know I've been here." Quill said while they were walking. 

"We have." Aamira said in her weak voice. "Not in this exact area, but we've been here…"

And she was right. Through the trees ahead they could see a lake shimmering in the unreal light. There were trees all around covered in berries and the bank was covered in strange pink flowers each with six pedals.

"Wait, is this Shroud Lake?" Quill noticed a tree with some Pecha Berries growing on it. "Oh, perfect." 

They ran out on to the river bank towards the tree where the Pecha Berries were growing. When they were about ten feet away something exploded in front of them. It was an Aura Sphere. 

Lucario and Quill had been thrown back a few feet and Aamira had fallen to the ground and seemed to be in a lot of pain from the poison. 

Lucario got up first. "Hey, can't you see that our friend is poisoned!" 

The second Lucario, this one a female judging by her voice, looked over at Aamira. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were going to attack us." There were two other pokemon there, an Umbreon and a Sandslash.

Lucario ran over to the tree and brought a Pecha Berry back to Aamira, who ate it gratefully. Quill just sat there looking dumbstruck at Sandslash and Umbreon. 

"I don't know about these guys…" Sandslash said to Umbreon. None of them were taking their eyes off of the three pokemon that had appeared as if out of nowhere. 

"What do you think, Aamira?" Umbreon asked. 

Aamira looked up at Umbreon. "How do you know my name?" 

The female Lucario laughed. "Your name's Aamira? Well so is mine." 

Lucario suddenly looked excited. "So you're… you're Shade?" 

The Riolu Aamira glared at Lucario. "You named me after Shade?" 

"You asked me to give you a new name and that was the first one that came to mind and you really liked it, so… yea." 

"Well you could have told me that before!" Aamira said angrily. 

"Calm down!" Quill said to Aamira and Lucario. "Look at those two." He said referring to Umbreon and Sandslash. "Don't they look familiar to you?" 

"I've never seen them." Lucario said. 

"They look familiar…" Aamira said. 

"They're the Creators! The first Investigation Team!" Quill said excitedly. 

Sandslash snapped his fingers and pulled out a notebook and a quill and scribbled something down. "Investigation Team! Now that's got a good ring to it. Why didn't we think of that before?""

Quill looked stunned. "What just happened?" 

Aamira moved closer to Quill and whispered to him. "I think you just created the first Investigation Team…" 

Quill's face turned red and he fell on the ground, out cold. Aamira shook him a few times but he didn't move. 

"Is he okay?" The Lucario Aamira asked. 

"He's probably just excited." Lucario said. "Just today, all of us have escaped from a prison cell, got teleported in a machine with no guarantee that it would work, then Quill, who everyone believed was an orphan, found out he not only had a mother and father but a brother, and now he's meeting his heroes in person even though we all come from a world thousands of years after your team existed."

"You must have come through the Forest of Time." The Lucario Aamira grabbed the Nightmare Gem that she was wearing around her neck. "You have the Nightmare Gem. So you must be the king of Atra." 

"Not exactly." The Riolu Aamira said. 

"Oh, I see." The other Aamira said. "Mismagius is still in control and you've come to ask for help. But no… that doesn't sound exactly right." 

"Close." Lucario said. "Your idea of sealing Mismagius in a crystal on top of a staff worked. But she would only stay sealed in it for as long as there's an Aura Reader for the king. There was a king, but he wasn't an Aura Reader so Mismagius came back and took control over Atra. Now she's taking over this world and trying to find a way into Desolo to find something she can use to take over every world there is." 

"There's really an item that can do that?" The Lucario Aamira said. "Maybe it would be best to seal the entrance to Desolo just in case." 

"Well the seal's worked so far." The Riolu Aamira said. "So well in fact that we can't get through to save everyone. But it's kept Mismagius out too." 

"Aamira." Lucario said awkwardly to the other Lucario. "This might be hard to believe, but I'm actually one of your descendants. I'm Shade now." 

"Another Shade…" Aamira said in awe. "And my great, great, great… a lot of greats grandson." 

"I realize this is an emotional moment for you." The Riolu Aamira said to Lucario. "After all, she's only the second of your relatives that you've ever met." 

Lucario seemed to be in a trance again. "That's true…"

"So you wouldn't mind telling us how to get into Desolo, would you?" Aamira asked Aamira. 

"The sun gives entry to darkness, the moon gives entry to light. Only when the two are balanced can the door to the light be opened." She said. 

"For once I agree with Shaymin." The Riolu Aamira said. "What is it with Aura Readers and talking in riddles? I just don't see the point." 

"You're an Aura Reader yourself, figure it out." The aura sensors on the back of the Lucario Aamira's head rose for a second then fell again. "You three are all really strange. Lucario, you seem to be half an Aura Reader. Silver aura, but no gold whatsoever. Not anything I've ever seen before. You're more caring than you are brave, am I right? But that care will give you courage, as will your friends. Aamira, I'm not really sure what to think about you. Your aura is like an Aura Reader's. More of it is courage than caring. If I'm right you usually hope nothing bad will happen so it won't hold you back." 

Aamira's head drooped. The truth hurt somewhat. She had never noticed it before then. 

"But there's something else. A familiar aura. It's dark. Really dark. You wouldn't happen to be Mismagius's niece would you." 

Aamira looked up at the Lucario Aamira in surprise. 

"I thought so. But listen, no one's destiny is decided for them, you have the power to choose what you want to do with yourself. Just because you're a relative of hers doesn't mean you have to be on her side. And last is your friend there. His aura is especially surprising. The exact opposite of an Aura Reader's, I'd say. More specifically, the exact opposite of Aamira's. More caring than courageous. It's almost like the two of you could be brother and sister. Or maybe even the same person except opposite. But Quill has both a light and dark aura. The light and dark in him are perfectly balanced. My guess is that he's really playful and the most childlike person there is for his age. But the reason his aura is strange to me is because it's a lot like Umbreon's." 

"Like mine?" Umbreon asked curiously. 

Quill woke up and sat up. "I'm so confused. Two Shades, two Aamiras and the Creators all in the same area." 

"Uh yea…" Aamira said, fighting back laughter at Quill's unawareness to the pink flower that was now stuck on his head. "And, don't faint again, but I think Umbreon might be a distant relative of yours…"

Quill stared at Umbreon for a second then started running around him. "Grandpa!" 

I think these flowers are having a weird effect on your friend." The Lucario Aamira said. "That happens to people when good things have happened to them recently. These flowers really are something special." 

"So you could really tell all of that about us just by looking at our aura?" The Riolu Aamira asked.

"You would be able to also with a little more practice. Even though Riolu can't see aura, they can still sense it. I think you would be able to do it." 

"By the way." Lucario said. "Where were you planning on hiding the staff?" 

"Under the moon symbol in the main hallway of the castle." The Lucario Aamira said. 

"Why does he get a straight answer?" Aamira asked. 

"Because you're an Aura Reader and you can figure it out." 

"Hey, since you three came from the Forest of Time, you may not need to hurry, but we do." Sandslash said. 

"Yes, you're right." The Aamira Lucario said. "But this all happened for a reason. Past and future are one now." She turned back to Team Sleuth. "It's too bad we'll never have the chance to meet. But why did this all happen? I was just thinking about pretending that someone sent a message to the castle saying that Shade would come back when Mismagius escaped. Would that work?" 

"Yes, that's what's supposed to happen." Lucario said. 

"Then we need to get going." Umbreon said. 

The three of them ran off in the direction that they had come from. 

"Hey, what's this?" Quill walked up to a shrine. In front of it was a statue of a Celebi. 

"That explains everything!" Aamira said. 

"It does?" Lucario and Quill asked at the same time. 

"Sure it does. We came through the Forest of Time, right? And this lake has healing powers, right? So does the lake that Celebi lives at. It even has those red berries that are supposed to be Celebi's favorite food." 

"Oh yea, I gave you some of those berries to treat any internal injuries when you first showed up here." Quill said. 

"Right. Which means Shroud Lake must really be the Lake of Life." 

"Oh yea. I just remembered something." Quill said. "How could I forget? Remember that tablet in the museum? There was an inscription on it that said 'Peace is full of life, and life brings peace'. Maybe life in that is referring to the Lake of Life and full of life is obviously what your name means. I bet that tablet was actually made for Shade sometime after she saved the world and that's sort of telling us what we have to do." 

"If only we noticed that before we found out what we have to do." 

"But we still don't have any idea what we have to do to get to Desolo." Lucario said. 

"The sun and the moon… Hey, you don't think maybe Umbreon was the one that was able to get them to Desolo, do you?" Aamira asked. 

"Yea, that would make sense." Quill said. "But I thought we needed the Dream Amulet." 

"The sun and the moon. Umbreon must have the Dream Amulet in this time." Aamira said. "So it's probably another Umbreon that can help us get to Desolo in our time…" 

Suddenly the three of them realized. "Shadow!" 

"Why didn't I see it before?" Lucario said, obviously furious with himself. "Why else would Mismagius ever have kidnapped him in the first place? Espeon said that she thought Mismagius had gotten Quill and Shadow mixed up, but she never makes mistakes like that. She probably knew all along that Shadow was the only one that would be able to lead her to Desolo, but she didn't know where the Dream Amulet was, so she tried forcing Aamira to figure out where it was." 

"But if that's true, my little brother's in danger!" Quill said frantically. 

The eyes on the Celebi statue started to glow. "Allow me to help you. Return to your time and save our worlds." There was a flash of light. The next second the three of them were standing by Shroud Lake, back in their time. The atmosphere seemed tainted with evil and the air was thick with smoke.

"What's wrong, Noctowl?" Mismagius asked. "Too weak even to fight me at half my strength? How pathetic."

'There's no way she's only at half power…' Noctowl was shaking from horn to talon with exhaustion and fatigue.

"Look! Over there!" Someone pointed to the tops of some of the trees. There was a raging fire in the southern part of the city and large columns of thick black smoke were rising into the air. Everyone had been so preoccupied with the battle that no one had even noticed until then.

Mismagius laughed. "You're all so gullible. The last of the piece is finally mine. The doorway to Desolo will be opened. And all thanks to you, Noctowl." Mismagius laughed evil again and disappeared.

"Noctowl!" Espeon came running through the crowd. "Noctowl, if we don't do something the whole forest will catch on fire." Noctowl didn't reply. He just stood there shaking and staring into space towards the pillar of black smoke, his eyes filled with fear. "Noctowl! If there was ever a time we needed you to lead us, it's now!" Still he didn't move. So Espeon turned to the crowd. "Alright, everyone listen. Any fire type pokemon should go into the fire and rescue anyone you can find! Water and ground type pokemon should stand along the perimeter and keep the fire from spreading. Flying types, minus Noctowl, fly overhead and make sure that the fire doesn't spread through the vines. If it starts to, then cut the vines down before it can spread. Everyone else grab anything you can use to carry water and head to the river!" 

Everyone ran off immediately. Espeon stayed behind and turned to Noctowl. "It's not you're fault." She said in a motherly tone. "Mismagius is like that, you know? What she did was cruel but you can't let her win! Don't give her any satisfaction!"

'It's all my fault…' Noctowl thought. 'I should have trusted Alakazam more… It was true he did those things to Team Sleuth, but I shouldn't have let that blind me… And the danger I sensed wasn't him at all, it was Mismagius, or maybe even… me. I'll… I'll never use my abilities again.' 

"What's going on?" Quill shouted as he, Aamira, and Lucario ran towards them. 

"You three. Are you alright?" Espeon asked. 

"There's no time for questions now." Lucario said. "What's happened here?" 

"Mismagius came and Noctowl tried to fight her. But it was just a diversion and now half of the town is on fire." Espeon said. 

Lucario looked over his shoulder. "That's where Team Sleuth Headquarters is!" 

"Shadow!" Quill ran off towards their base. 

"What's going on?" Espeon asked. 

"We'll explain later." Aamira said. She and Lucario followed Quill. Espeon hesitated a moment and followed too, leaving Noctowl to think only about what he had allowed to happen.

By the time they got there the fire was under control. Only a few trees had been burned down completely. Their tree had been spared, though it looked like a strong gust of wind could topple it. Machop, Haunter, Daisy, and Eevee were all standing outside. 

"What happened?" Aamira asked them. 

"Honchkrow appeared out of nowhere and attacked us." Eevee said. "Shadow saved us, but he hasn't come out yet…" 

At that moment Arcanine came out of the entrance. On her back was Shadow. Arcanine's face was grave and Shadow wasn't moving. She brought him over to Chansey and laid him carefully on the ground. 

"Oh, please no…" Espeon said under her breath. She walked over to Quill and held him close to her. Quill looked on in horror. 

Chansey put her hand on Shadow's neck to find a pulse. She seemed hopeful at first and tried everything, but nothing seemed to work. After a while the yellow rings covering Shadow faded and disappeared. Chansey's hand dropped to her side and she looked up sadly at Espeon and Quill. "I'm sorry…" 

Espeon burst into tears. Quill dropped to his hands and knees and seemed too mortified to even do as much as cry. Aamira's eyes filled with tears too. 'He was my little brother too… Mismagius can't get away with this.' Then she noticed something. "He's… Smiling…" 

"'All my life I've been alone. I never knew who I was or where I came from. Now I have a home, a family, and some friends. I'd do anything to protect that.' That was the last thing he said when he saved us..." Eevee smiled sadly. "You were pretty brave, cousin."

'That's right.' Aamira thought. 'Since Espeon was Shadow's mom and Espeon's sister is Eevee's mom, that makes them cousins. I completely forgot. 

A beam of light shot up into the air from Shroud Lake. It only lasted a moment then disappeared. It was as if it hadn't even happened. Without thinking Lucario, Quill and Aamira ran off towards the lake. There was no way that they were going to get away with this!

"You really thought you could stop us, rodent?" Honchkrow was standing in front of the lake with one of his feet on top of Shaymin. "You were such a pushover. You really thought you could save anyone?" Shaymin whimpered as Honchkrow stomped him harder into the ground. 

An orb of fire came at Honchkrow so quickly he couldn't even avoid it. Honchkrow screeched and flew backwards a few feet. After he shook of the shock from the attack he looked around to see who it was that had attacked him. There stood Team Sleuth. Quill and Aamira had combined their Aura Sphere and Flamethrower and attacked Honchkrow together.

"That was from our brother…" Quill said angrily. 

"Heh. How touching." Honchkrow said. "Normally I'd say, 'Ask Aamira and she'll tell you a story much like this.' Though I doubt she can now with her amnesia and I doubt she would anyway. Lucario, haven't you ever wondered why your friend was so secretive?"

"You liar!" Aamira ran at him to attack with force palm. 

Honchkrow flew into the air and used Arial Ace. "Why waste your time on me? You've got bigger problems. I bet you didn't know this, because not even Mismagius knew this, but not only did one pokemon always have the ability to open the gateway into Desolo, but also if they died the gateway would be forced opened. So now that Shadow, the only lock on the gate, is gone Mismagius was able to get through. Now she's sealed it again and no one will ever be able to get through to stop her." Honchkrow flew off. "Try to get through if you must, but it's a waist of time!" 

Quill collapsed again. 

Aamira watched Honchkrow fly off. "Mismagius is the one behind everything. Quill, we'll catch her. And the three of us will stop her." 

"You mean… the four of us…" Shaymin struggled and got to his feet. "This isn't about me anymore. I tried to stop Mismagius, I really did, but the two of them overpowered me. Now Honchkrow's escaped and Mismagius is in Desolo. If we don't stop her everything will be destroyed." 

"Alright then." Lucario said. "Any idea how to get in?" 

"No idea…" Shaymin said. 

Quill seemed to have lost it. He grabbed the Nightmare Gem from around Lucario's neck and the Dream Amulet from around Aamira's and ran towards the lake. He put the two crystals together so they looked like the symbol on Aamira's scarf and touched them to the water on the lake. Something deep inside the lake started glowing and a bright light shot up into the sky from the very center of the lake. Quill walked over to Aamira and Lucario and gave the Nightmare Gem and Dream Amulet back to them. 

"How did you know that would work?" Aamira asked. 

"I guess it's a good thing that aura rubs off on people…" Quill said. "Maybe it was because we were brothers, but I guess I could open it too…" 

"We don't have much time." Lucario led the way to the edge of the lake. 

The three of them stepped onto the water. It still felt wet and it felt like water, but they could walk on top of it. The four of them walked to the center of the lake into the light. Their feet left the water. It felt like something was pulling them up, though they couldn't tell what. There was a flash of light and the next second they were standing in a seemingly endless field of flowers. In the distance they could see a tower that appeared to be floating on a cloud. Overhead the sun blazed and the sky seemed a more vivid color of blue than any of them had ever seen. They had finally arrived in Desolo.

Somewhere across the field of flowers, a sleeping spirit awakened. "A dark power has intruded upon our land. It must be stopped less our world fall into ruin."


	35. Chapter 35 The Stone Lucario

Aamira grunted and held both of her hands to her head. 

"What is it?" Quill asked her. 

"A migraine… I've never had one this bad before…" Aamira fell onto her knees. 

Lucario put his hand on her forehead. "I don't think this is just a Migraine. You're burning up." Lucario picked up Aamira and put her on his back. "Strange that this would happen as soon as we get to this world, isn't it?" 

"Maybe we can find someone who can help?" Quill suggested. 

"There's a town up ahead." Shaymin said. "But I'm not really allowed to go there…" 

"I thought you weren't even allowed in this world." Quill said. "There are some times when rules have to be broken, you know?" 

"Alright then…" Shaymin took the lead and led them towards the town. 

It wasn't just a town; it was an entire kingdom. In the distance they could see a palace towering far over the city. Somewhere far behind it, they could see the tower floating on the cloud. All of the citizens of the city that they saw seemed so at peace with everything around them. A lot of them were psychic types, and they also saw the occasional Riolu or Lucario. Overhead some pokemon that looked a bit like Shaymin were flying from the direction they had just come from. Shaymin kept looking up at them as if expecting one of them to land and tell him off for coming back to that world. 

"This city is huge. There has to be a doctor around here somewhere." Lucario said. Aamira had fallen unconscious a while back, but she seemed to be okay for the moment. 

They had reached the center of the town, but still hadn't found anyone who looked like they might be a doctor. Some strong looking pokemon wearing some fancy-looking warrior outfits and different types of armor came towards them from ever street. A Scizor who appeared to be their leader walked towards them. 

"As the head of the peace keepers, allow me to be the first to welcome the four of you to Desolo." He said. "And as the head of the protection force, allow me to inform you that the four of you are under arrest." 

"What!" Lucario and Quill said at the same time. Shaymin didn't seem surprised at all. 

'But this is the second time today…' Quill thought. 

"Look, we're just trying to find a doctor." Lucario said. "Our friend is really sick. 

"I'm sorry, but that's not really our problem." Scizor said. "You'll have to bring that up with our leader." 

"But I thought you were the leader." Quill said. 

'They don't know who our leader is?' Scizor thought. 'I don't get it. They don't seem that bad. Why did the Great One want us to capture the four of them? Well Shaymin I understand, but the other three don't seem to be much of a threat.' "If the four of you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. For now, don't make any sudden movements and we won't have to attack you. Now follow me." 

Scizor led the three of them, and Aamira who was still being carried by Lucario, through the town. The other pokemon that had surrounded them were keeping a close eye on them. Every pokemon they passed looked at them curiously. Obviously they didn't often see someone, let alone four pokemon at the same time, get arrested in this town. After a while it became apparent where they were being led; right up to the castle.

Once they got to the castle, they were led to one of the deeper chambers. A purple and white pokemon with a long tail met them there. He was wearing the same green warriors outfit as the other pokemon that had taken them there, but had a more regal appearance. 

"So these are the four the Great One ordered to be brought here…?" The regal-looking pokemon looking over the four of them. "There does seem to be a strange aura coming from them that I don't recognize. An evil aura." 

"We're not here to cause trouble." Lucario said. "We came here to help save this world and our own, but our friend became sick and collapsed in the flower field to the south west of here." 

The pokemon eyed the pendants that both Lucario and Aamira were wearing. "I'm not sure what to make of the two of you. You, Lucario, wear the Nightmare Gem around your neck. The gem of the world of darkness. But your Riolu friend wears the Dream amulet around her neck. The amulet of this world. And you, small one." It turned to Quill. "Though you're not a species I recognize, you seem to posses the innocence of the pokemon of our world. But Shaymin, I know you were expelled from this world long ago. What compelled you to come back?" 

"Hey, weren't you listening to what Lucario said!" Shaymin said. "We're trying to save the world! Not just this world, but the world of shadows and the world of darkness too!" 

"Please, our friend is really sick. Surely someone here can do something." Lucario said in a pleading voice that almost sounded pathetic for him. 

The pokemon looked over the four of them again. 'It's true that they do match the description of the four pokemon in the legend, but how is it possible that all four of them came from a different world when there are only three pokemon worlds? And if it's true that it is them, why was it that the Great One warned of a dark aura coming with four outsiders?' "Well, let's just see if the four of you are heroes like you claim to be." He put his hand on a statue of a dragon-like pokemon and pressed a hidden button. On the wall behind him a secret door opened. "Come with me." 

'There's a strong aura coming from inside that room.' Lucario thought. 'I've never felt an aura this strong before. And it feels almost the exact opposite of Mismagius's.' Aamira stirred a bit in her sleep, no doubt from sensing the aura, but didn't wake up. 

The pokemon led them to the very back of what seemed to be a separate building made of stone. There were trees growing near the walls and vines growing on the walls, ceiling, and even on the floor. On the floor below the vines was a thick, soft grass that felt like the grass in the Forest of Time. In the very back was a stone statue of a Lucario meditating on top of a shrine. The ceiling above it had been damaged and light was shining through it onto the Lucario statue. 

"Great One." The pokemon said. "We have brought the four you described to us. But they don't seem to be evil like you say." 

"One of them is." A soft female voice said. It seemed to be coming from the statue. "I can see beyond my eyes, as my eyes are no longer of any use to me. One of the five of them has turned as evil as possible." 

"Five?" Quill said. "But there are only four of us. And this guy said that you told those other pokemon to bring the four of us here." 

"That I did." Said the voice again. "Sleeping Riolu, you can here my voice. Do you remember me? I am the one that called you here. The voice that only you could hear." 

Aamira stirred again in her sleep, but didn't wake up. 

"A fifth member joined your party before you left for this world, whether you're aware of it or not. Aamira would be the only one who would have been able to sense the dark aura, since the Nightmare Gem blocks your ability to sense dark aura, Lucario, so it hid in her shadow and is now attempting to penetrate her mind." 

"Penetrate her mind?" Lucario said. "What would that do to her?" 

"All secrets, even those long forgotten will be revealed to the one penetrating her mind. She will lose her mind in the process and become nothing but an empty shell." 

"We can't let that happen!" Quill said. 

"Yes, I feel the same, but to let that evil power loose in our world… It could be catastrophic. So I'll ask you, will you stop the evil power after I release it from your friend's mind?"

"That's why we came here." Lucario said. "To save our worlds." 

"Our worlds…" The voice repeated. "Long have I awaited for someone to see the true unity… the true indifference… between all of our worlds. I'll trust the four of you with that task of saving our worlds." A small sphere of light appeared between the statues hands and fired itself at Aamira's forehead.

"What will it take for you to realize the truth?" A voice said in Aamira's dream. 

"I don't have to listen to a thing you say, Mismagius. You're just a part of this dream, you're not real. Nothing here is real." Aamira said. 

"And how do you know that?" Mismagius asked. "Was Suicune just a dream? Was your friend Quill almost dying not real? In an Aura Reader's mind, no dreams are fake." 

If that was true, then Aamira had to fight Mismagius now. But as hard as she tried, she couldn't move. All she could do was stand there and look straight towards Mismagius. 

"But since you seem to be somewhat of a brain dead Aura Reader, let me spell it out for you." Mismagius said. "The only use your friends had for you was to lead them to Desolo. Now you've done that, so what use are you to them?" 

"They're my friends. It has nothing to do with any of us being useful." Aamira said. 

"And you think they'll stay your friends for long? After they find out that you took me to Desolo with you?" 

"No I didn't! We chased you here!" Aamira said uncertainly. 

"You really believed that Honchkrow? It was a trick! Just because we stole Shadow's power and finished him off doesn't mean that we could get into Desolo. Even though the barrier was broken, we still needed the Dream Amulet and the Nightmare gem as the physical keys to this world, which you and your friends so helpfully supplied. Then I just hid in your shadow when you all came to this world. If only your powers were true, you would have known it was a trap and you never would have come here. It's all your fault Aamira, and your friends will see it that way too! And thanks to you, I'll be able to create a new world any way I choose." 

"NO! That can't be true!" Aamira stopped struggling to try to move. 

'Her will is failing her.' Mismagius thought. 'Soon the secret to finding the Origin Egg will be mine.' 

"Aamira…" 

Aamira looked around. She could move again. Mismagius looked around also. Then, somewhere behind Aamira, Lucario appeared. "Aamira, don't give in to Mismagius. Don't fall for her mind tricks!" 

"That's right!" Quill appeared beside Lucario. "You don't need to worry about anything, because you'll always have us to help you." 

"And I still want to try fighting you when you can use Aura Sphere." Charmeleon appeared on Lucario's other side. Only unlike the other two, he was facing towards the left, but still seemed to be talking to Aamira. "Be sure to free all the pokemon under her control. Including me, you got that? I didn't join willingly, after all." 

After that Sceptile and Meganium appeared. "She forced me to join." Meganium said. "And Sceptile never had a choice. But even if we end up fighting you, we're still here for you." 

"You kids are pretty tough." Aamira turned and saw Weavile standing behind Meganium. Gliscor and Houndoom were there too. "Everything will be clear eventually, but I can't explain now. We're still here for all of you though." 

"I… I couldn't help myself when we first met…" It was Crawdaunt, to Aamira's surprise. "That's just the way I was back then, when Croconaw and I attacked you. But I started to feel guilt for the first time after meeting you. Please believe me, I've changed. After all of this is over… do you think… we could be friends?" 

Aamira nodded but couldn't find any words to say. More pokemon started appearing out of nowhere. Eevee, Crystal, Glaceon, Dragonite, Espeon, Leafeon, Typhlosion, Daisy, Machop, Nuzleaf, Haunter, Wurmple, Grovyle, Autumn, Aipom, Mankey, Roy, Oddish, Vileplume, Tal, Bella, Leef, Latias, Latios, and even Shadow. All of her friends with something special to say. Aamira must have been blind to have always felt so alone. So many of her friends were there that she had long since lost count. 

"You can't manipulate me anymore…" Aamira said to Mismagius with tears in her eyes. "Now get out!" 

Mismagius vanished in an instant and Aamira woke up. She was crying tears of joy. 

"Are you alright?" Lucario said to her. 

"Yes…" Aamira said weakly. "I'll never feel alone again…" 

"You weak minded, pathetic excuse for a Riolu!" Mismagius said. She had appeared right behind Aamira.

"So it was Mismagius that possessed Aamira." Quill said. "I should've guessed." 

"For someone who's so 'weak minded' she sure had an easy time fighting you off." The voice in the Lucario statue said. 

Mismagius looked up at the statue in horror. "My sister! What has happened to you?" 

"Can you not remember?" the statue said. "After all, it's because of you that I'm like this. I willingly turned into a pokemon with the help of Masters Ho-oh and Lugia to stop you. I defeated you and helped to trap you in this world. Then I made this proclamation: 'I wouldn't be surprised if in ten generations one of my descendants would turn into a pokemon to defeat you much like I had.' And, as it would turn out, here stands Aamira ten generations later."

"You… You wanted her to stop me…?" Mismagius said. "But I thought…" 

"Not now, sister. My guests need time to rest, can't you see? They'll be along to defeat you by tomorrow morning, do not worry about that. But for now, get out of my temple!" Another beam of light shot from between the stone Lucario's hands and hit Mismagius. Mismagius shrieked and vanished into thin air. 

"Wait…" Aamira said. "So… I came to this world to stop Mismagius…?" 

"It's strange how confused she seemed…" The stone statue said. "I can't put my finger on it, but something is definitely odd about it. Anyway, Aamira, My granddaughter, I'm so glad we can finally meet. My name is Ceilia and my voice was the one that led you and your friends to this world." 

"Wait, I just remembered something!" Quill said. "Aamira, you remember when Lucario was telling you about how the two of you became friends? Mismagius was saying that you must have come to Atra to become the king of the world of darkness and you said, that you had your own reasons for coming to that world and that you didn't need a sassy ghost pokemon telling you what was what. Remember? You must have known that Mismagius was evil and that you had to stop her. You came to this world willingly to do it! And that part about not needing her telling you what's what… I bet you knew there was something wrong with her memory too!"

"Being an Aura Reader, it's highly possible." Ceilia said. "And I wouldn't be surprised if you heard the voices of the ones Mismagius had imprisoned all the way from the human world."

"Secret Keeper…" Aamira mumbled under her breath. "Since Lucario and I were friends when I was a human, I wouldn't have wanted to tell him all of this, would I? It would probably make him worried, or he might have even gotten too confident…" 

"You're finally starting to understand." Ceilia said. 

"Wait, you were a human?" The other pokemon that they had forgotten about until then said.

"Is there something wrong?" Ceilia asked him. "After all, I was also once human."

"Of course not. It's in the past." The pokemon growled. "So, all four of you came from different worlds! Just like in the prophecy! You're the heroes meant to save the world." He turned to Shaymin. "And if you succeed, we won't hesitate in letting you return to your former home."

"Return home?" Shaymin said. 

"Of course." Quill said. "That's why you wanted to do this, isn't it?" 

"Oh! Right…" Shaymin said. "Listen, if it's all the same to you, I just want to stop Mismagius. And I don't think I would really like too many people being grateful to Shaymin…"

"What are you talking about?" Aamira asked. "You didn't interrupt once when we were trying to figure things out and now you don't want to go home? Even if it was true that you don't want a lot of people being grateful to Shaymin, here there are other Shaymin that will help you blend in. Soon no one will know who helped saved the world; they'll just know that their species was Shaymin."

"Yea, I guess you have a point." Shaymin said. "But remember when I said that I failed to protect the Looking Glass the first time? I failed to protect it from Mismagius. Luckily Shade stopped her before she really found out what it was, but she stole a few shards from it that she uses to control other pokemon now. I'm the one who created this whole mess…" 

"Well, you'll just have to help us fix it then." Aamira said. "Maybe your guilty conscious was the real reason you wanted to help us from the very beginning. Either way, you owe it to everyone to help us to the best of your ability." 

Shaymin's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you! Thank you! Shaymin is so grateful to Aamira!" Flowers like the ones on either side of his head started to bloom all over his back. "Oh, now look what you did! I'm blooming! This is so embarrassing…" 

The regal-looking pokemon laughed. "It's nothing to be ashamed of that just means that we have a reason to trust you now. And look around you." 

All around them flowers like the ones on Shaymin stared to grow out of the ground and were all blooming in front of their eyes. 

"The Gracidea Flowers are back!" Shaymin said happily. "There was only one left in existence before now. That bunch of pokemon that looked like me that were flying through the air had all gone to the last flower to transform into Skymin, or Shaymin sky form, to fly up to that tower. But since there was only one flower, they can't stay that way for long. But now there's a whole bunch of Gracideas! But… Did I really do this?" 

"You did." Ceilia said. "Because you were honest with yourself and everyone else, the Gracidea Flowers have returned. For this alone, Shaymin everywhere will accept you now. And if every person in the world were as kind and honest with others and themselves, just imagine how beautiful the world would be." 

Shaymin's eyes were filled with tears. "I don't believe in all of that deep meaning stuff! It's just so cheesy!" 

"Are you still being honest with yourself?" Quill asked. 

Shaymin laughed nervously. "Well, I guess I better get used to Skymin since I'm stronger that way. I'll be more useful in sky form." Shaymin walked over to a flower and sniffed at it. Some of the golden pollen went up his nose and he started to glow and turned into his sky form. "I forgot how awesome this was!" He kicked off of the ground and seemed to become part of the air the way he flew. 

"You're voice got a little deeper and tougher sounding." Lucario said. 

"Yea, I'll admit, I'm a bit of a wimp in my land form, but Skymin rules!" He did a back flip in the air. "If no one needs me, I'm going to go do some training." Then he flew out of the damaged ceiling. 

"Well, it seems that you've all had quite a day." The other pokemon said. "You all need rest. Then tomorrow you can head to the Tower of Origin where the Looking Glass is. That's sure to be where Mismagius will be headed. So for now I can take you all to some spare rooms in the castle."

"Finally, we can get some sleep!" Quill said. "The last time any of us, except Aamira, got any sleep was when Mismagius knocked us all out and threw us in a prison." 

Lucario and Aamira laughed. 

"If it's all the same to you, would you mind if I just stay here?" Aamira asked. "I hate staying in cushy bedrooms inside castles. They make me claustrophobic now." 

"I don't mind." Ceilia said. 

"Doesn't it seem like every time we stay at a castle, you get attacked by Mismagius?" Quill said. "There was that time you got an arrow through the hand, the time when she almost turned you into a puppet while we were in Atra, and just now." 

Aamira couldn't help but laugh. It was true, and maybe that was the real reason she always felt claustrophobic in castles. 

"Right then. Follow me and I'll show you two to your rooms." The pokemon turned towards the door.

"Wait, you never told us your name." Aamira said. 

He turned back to her. "I am Mewtwo, the king of Desolo the forgotten city." Then he turned and led Quill and Lucario out the door. 

"Mewtwo?" Aamira thought out loud. "I've heard of Mew somewhere before, but never Mewtwo…"

"Mewtwo was created from mew." Ceilia said. "Once Mew was the carefree and always happy ruler of this kingdom. Everyone loved him. But he was also the kingdom's protector. When someone from Atra came and challenged him for the throne, Mew had no choice but to accept the challenge. Mew was defeated. Then a scientist loyal to Mew cloned Mewtwo from Mew's DNA. Mewtwo challenged the tyrant king and won. Now Mewtwo is the king. But ever since then, people have always thought of any form of darkness as evil…"

"That's horrible…" Aamira said. "It sounds like no one really won anything from that. But Mewtwo seems like he would make a good king." 

"He's a very good king, but he's the exact opposite of Mew. Because of the reason he was created, his heart became the most savage of all pokemon. It's sad really. But people look up to him with respect and loyalty and there was never a king and good as Mewtwo or Mew."

The two of them talked late into the night, though the sun never really set but it did get a bit darker. Finally Aamira asked Ceilia what she had been curious about the whole time: 

"How was it that you got turned to stone?" 

"Now that's a good question. But I'm afraid the answer might disappoint you. I wasn't the victim of some great evil or anything. I simply sat here in the Temple of Peace one day to meditate. I became so a peace with everything around me, that I no longer needed to sleep, eat, drink, breathe, or even really think. So I was turned to stone. But I regret nothing." 

"Why's that?"

"I can see everything now. I can see everything in any world all at the same time, even though my eyes don't work anymore. My aura became the worlds, and the world's aura became my own. I was the first to sense the imbalance of aura that not only plagues Atra and the shadow world, but this one as well. I've seen many things, both beautiful and horrific and I probably know nearly everything there is to know." 

"If that's true…" Aamira said, but Ceilia cut her off. 

"You want to know about your past, right? But for now, I think you should be worrying more about the future." 

"Why's that? We're not going to lose are we?" 

"Not if you and your friends do everything right. But there is something that's a little worrying. But I think you'll find out when the time is right. For now, don't worry too much about it. This whole mess should end soon enough." 

"Right." Aamira laid back in the grass and flowers. It was still a lot brighter outside that it was in the world where they had just come from, but Aamira could still see the stars and the moon amazingly clearly. "You know, I think there really is just one world. I remember I always liked looking up in the sky. By day, I wondered what it would be like to fly and by night I wondered if there was such a thing as life in other worlds. But I think that all these worlds might just be part of one big world. The human world, the shadow pokemon world, this world, and probably even Atra though we could never see the sky when we were there. All have the same stars and the same moon. Atra has two moons, of course, but doesn't this world have two suns? I guess it just makes sense that way."

"All the worlds a part of one big world. Yes, I agree with that. Aura links them together and if Mismagius isn't stopped, aura will break them all apart. It's a sad thought. I don't ever want to see that happen, though Mismagius would probably destroy me now that she knows I was her enemy. But just thinking that everything could be the same… that everything could be at peace… gives me hope. Pokemon, humans, and animals are all born, they all die eventually, and they all breathe the same air. In every world there are flowers for us to marvel at and the unknown which we are prone to fear. We all have the same emotions, we can all think, and we all have the will to live. We all see time go by the same and we all care about the space around us. We all come from the same origin, though we may see it differently, and that's what links everything together. Past, present, future, all the different worlds, light and dark… good and evil. We're always a part of everything and everything is always a part of us, even if there are some things we don't want to be a part of us…" 

"Yea, I guess that's just how things are. And what happened to Mismagius could have happened to anyone…"

The next morning Lucario came to wake her up. He was wearing his cloak again, even though Aamira was sure he had left it in Atra. 

"I went back last night." He said. "Not like it was dangerous. Not only is Mismagius here right now, but everyone else is gone too. Odds are they're either here or in the shadow world."

"I can't believe you would have gone back without telling anyone just to get a cloak." Aamira said. 

"Actually, I didn't go for the cloak, I went to get this." He pulled something out from the inside of his cloak. It was the staff that Mismagius had been trapped in before. Most of it was made of wood. The top was made out of iron though. There was a gem at the top surrounded by an iron ring and a half ring that stretched over the top. On each side of the half ring was something that looked a bit like a Lucario or a Riolu's aura sensors. The crystal was the most amazing part though. It was a white-blue color and seemed to have its own aura radiating from it as if it were alive. "I grabbed the cloak since I was already in the area. This cloak belonged to my father and the first Shade. It means a lot to me. Plus, it has the ability to obscure aura so Mismagius won't be able to see or sense the staff if I hide it under the cloak." 

"The true name of that staff is called the Aura Scepter." Ceilia said. "I remember it well." 

"You've seen it before?" Aamira asked. 

"I helped make it." Ceilia said. "I often found it easier to meditate if I tried to keep an Aura Sphere going for as long as possible. When I turned to stone, the Aura Sphere turned into that crystal. See the way my hands are stuck in this position as if I were focusing my energy? That's why. And for quite some time that crystal remained in my hands, reflecting the light that always shone through here. It was an amazing sight to see, I'll tell you."

"Really?" Out of curiosity, Lucario raised the staff into the light. The light reflected off of and even inside of the crystal and filled the whole room with an amazing blue-white light. It seemed that all around them the Gracidea flowers were singing, though they could have easily imagined it. 

"Wow…" Aamira said as if she had been put into a trance. "To think that it always used to look like that here."

"Yes, but beauty was a small price to pay for the world. Because of that crystal's ability to contain aura, I've called it the Pure Quartz. Shade was the one that named the staff itself the Aura Scepter." 

At that moment Quill yawned and walked in. "Hey everyone… Woa, so that's that staff that we can use to defeat Mismagius. We're… We're really going to do it. Today we're going to defeat Mismagius…" 

Aamira nodded. Quill had taken the words right out of her mouth. "Sort of a bitter-sweet feeling though, isn't it?" 

"Yea, I can't explain it." Lucario said. 

"Well, you've spent practically your whole life getting ready for this, I knew I was supposed to help save the world, and none of us would have ever met if it hadn't been for Mismagius." Aamira said. "Though I hate to say it, we sort of owe it to her that we've made it this far." 

"But, we can't let Mismagius do any more damage!" Quill said. "We have to stop her now, right?" 

Lucario and Aamira nodded determinately. 

"Let's go." Lucario said to Aamira and Quill. "Shaymin should be waiting for us outside."

"Right." Both of them said. 

They turned to leave, but then Ceilia stopped them. "Wait, I almost forgot a few things. The way the staff is made is so that the person holding it doesn't get sucked in along with Mismagius. Whatever you do, when you're trying to seal Mismagius in the staff, don't touch the Pure Quartz."

"That's good to know…" Lucario said, obviously wondering how she could have forgotten to mention that. "So…" Lucario raised the Aura Scepter a little. "How do I use this?"

"You don't know? It's simple, but requires precise timing. You have to touch the base of the Aura Scepter to Mismagius's shadow. Then her energy will be drawn into the Pure Quartz. But she'll be vigilant, so timing is everything. Once she sees the staff, she'll most likely try to escape, so be sure to use it only at the right time and keep it hidden until then. Oh, and one last thing. You have to save the world by tonight." 

"Tonight?" The three of them said. They honestly had no idea how long it would take them.

"Tonight, the moon will be full. Though not many people know it, our world does have a moon, though it's only visible near the full moon. At the top of the tower is a flower garden filled with what we call Lunar Flowers, which bloom on the full moon and only on the full moon. Tonight the flowers will bloom and their energy will give you enough strength to save the world. Aamira, I daresay that you'll know what to do when that time comes. But if you don't save the world tonight, we'll have to wait another month and who knows what could happen in that time? For now, Mismagius controls the distortion of aura, but once she's sealed in the Aura Scepter, I daresay we won't have a month left." 

The three of them took a minute to make sure they had everything then walked outside where they met up with Shaymin, who was still in sky form. From there, they began the long walk to the tower in the sky.


	36. Chapter 36 Lucario's Last Stand

The four of them stood there looking up at the tower in the sky. It was at least a few hundred feet up and they had all spotted the same problem right away. Finally after a long time of just staring up at the sky, Quill broke the silence. 

"So… Any ideas how we're supposed to get up there?" 

"You're not…" Shaymin said flatly. "It was built on a cloud in the first place to keep people from getting at it. Shaymin can still get to it, but that's because we're the ones guarding it. If I was a little bigger I could fly the three of you up there, but the way I am now, just taking Quill up there would probably be a difficult task." 

"Well, we could at least look around." Lucario said. "There might be a ladder or something…" 

"A ladder?" Aamira said. "Yea, a hundred foot long ladder that attached to the edge of a cloud. I don't deny that a tower floating on top of a cloud is crazy, but even if there was a ladder it would probably be all flimsy and would have probably broken by now." 

"I'm just tossing ideas around." Lucario said. "After all, you remember what Ceilia said. It took us all morning just to get here. We need to get up there now." 

"Maybe I could be of some help." 

The three of them turned. Behind them, Mismagius appeared out of the air, grinning as evilly as ever. 

"So, are you just going to run away like always?" Lucario said to her. "Or are you going to fight us for once!"

"I came to you, didn't I? Of course I'm going to fight you!" Mismagius said seriously. "After yesterday, how could I not? My own sister was against me from the start, why couldn't I remember that! And besides, one of you has something I need…" 

Out of the corner of her eye, Aamira noticed Lucario's hand move slightly, no doubt to where he was hiding the Aura Scepter under his cloak. 

"But four against one?" Mismagius said in the voice that told them she was up to something. "That does seem a bit unfair, doesn't it? Mind if I invite a few 'friends' to the party?" Everything went dark for a second. When the light finally returned, they found themselves surrounded by six pokemon besides Mismagius. 

"It's our friends!" Quill said. "You can't expect us to fight them!" 

"Well I never said whose friends I would be inviting, did I?" Mismagius laughed. "Fight for your life as long as you can, but you'll never be able to defeat us!" 

Quill looked sadly at Aipom, who was looking at him as if she wanted to use her tail to rip his head off. 

Mismagius smirked. "Since you look so eager, why don't I start by getting rid of the weakest link?"

Aipom suddenly attacked Quill. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't fight back! But right before Aipom's attack landed, she was knocked backwards by and Aura Sphere. Everyone turned to Aamira, obviously stunned by what she had just done. 

"Didn't think I'd do it, did you?" Aamira said quietly to Mismagius. "Do I attack my friend or let my other friend get attacked? But listen guys, they're not our friends." 

"What? Of course they are!" Mismagius growled.

"No they're not." Aamira said. "Our friends would never attack us. It's because of you that they're acting this way. I heard them yesterday. Everyone who was under Mismagius's control was suffering and wanted us to keep going so that we could free everyone. If that means they get a few extra cuts or bruises, I doubt they'll mind." 

"Hey, yea. You're right." Quill said. 

Lucario laughed. 

"And what exactly is so finny, I'd like to know!" Mismagius said. 

"You don't get it, do you?" Lucario said. "You intended to intimidate us by using our friends to battle us. But now that you've realized that won't work, haven't you realized the major flaw in your plan? Just look around, Mismagius." 

Mismagius looked around at the six pokemon she had brought to fight for her. Then her eyes widened as if she had realized something horrible. 

"Finally get it?" Lucario asked. "Nearly all of them are at a type disadvantage. Aipom and Weavile could easily be defeated by our fighting type moves, Sceptile, Meganium, and Nuzleaf are at a type disadvantage to Quill's fire type attacks, and all that leaves you with is Charmeleon, who was just barely able to defeat Aamira during the tournament they were both in, and that was without Aura Sphere. I highly doubt that he would stand a chance against four of us."

"Yea, and even though I'm normally at a disadvantage against Weavile and Charmeleon, since I can fly now I can avoid their attacks and attack from the air." Shaymin said confidently. "So you either attack these three and I attack from the air, or you attack me and these three attack from the ground." 

"We have an unbeatable combination." Quill said excitedly. "And even though we're down by three pokemon, I still think Mismagius is outnumbered." 

"If that's how you feel, I'll just call more of my loyal servants to take care of you!" Mismagius started to call more pokemon, before Aamira stopped her. 

"I can't believe all this time we've been afraid of what you might do if you went too far." She said. "All along you've just been hiding behind your cheap tricks and relying on others to do your dirty work for you. But now I see what you really are. You're not half the pokemon that any of us are. You're just a coward." 

"How DARE you! You pathetic excuse for a Riolu!" Mismagius's eyes glowed and all of the pokemon attacked at once. But at least Aamira had done what she had intended; Mismagius was now so mad that she hadn't even remembered to call anymore pokemon to help her. 

Weavile and Nuzleaf attacked Aamira, Sceptile and Meganium attacked Lucario, and Charmeleon and Aipom attacked Quill. Shaymin circled above the fight and helped whenever one of them got into trouble. Somehow Lucario and Quill were able to switched the two pokemon they were fighting so they had more of an advantage. Either way, Quill couldn't fight Aipom no matter how much he tried to bring himself to do it. So now he had to worry about Meganium and Sceptile. 

Aamira wasn't worried about Lucario and Quill; she knew how tough the two of them were. All she had to worry about was Nuzleaf and Weavile. She knew all of Nuzleaf's moves, but it was a lot of work trying to dodge multiple Razor Leafs and Weavile's assassin's claws.

Aamira used Force Palm on Weavile and followed up with an Aura Sphere. Nuzleaf tried to sneak up behind Aamira and use Pound, but Shaymin attacked Nuzleaf with Energy Ball to distract him. Then Aamira used drain punch to finish off Nuzleaf. 

"Wait, was that a drain punch I just heard?" Quill asked while battling Sceptile. "When did you switch your attacks back?"

"Just last night." Aamira said, while trying to dodge Weavile's claws again. "Ceilia knows a lot of tricks for a statue." Aamira used Drain punch again on Weavile and knocked him out cold. With Shaymin's help, they were all able to defeat their friends that were under Mismagius's control. 

"So you were able to defeat your weakling friends." Mismagius said. "But you've still got me to deal with." 

Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Shaymin and knocked him out of the air. Quill used Flame Wheel and hit Mismagius head on. Mismagius used Shadow Ball and Quill was barely able to dodge. Shaymin got back in the air and used Air Slash. Mismagius flinched, which gave Aamira time to use Drain Punch again. Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Aamira and did a little bit of damage. Lucario used Aura Sphere and the attack, to Mismagius's surprise, hit. 

Then Mismagius noticed the rings that Lucario and Aamira were wearing. "So that's how. You accuse me of hiding behind tricks when you yourselves are wearing Emit Rings to make it easier to attack me. You weaklings!" 

Mismagius attacked with Shadow Ball again and hit Lucario. Lucario blocked the attack for the most part by using the spikes on his hand, but still took a bit of Damage. Aamira and Lucario attacked with Aura Sphere. Quill followed up with Flamethrower. Mismagius was hit by both Aura Spheres, but was able to barely dodge Quill's Flame thrower. Shaymin used Energy Ball, but Mismagius was able to dodge that too. 

"Looks like as long as we use Aura Sphere we'll be alright…" Lucario whispered to Aamira. "Aura Sphere hardly ever misses, so as long as we have these Emit Rings and keep using Aura Sphere we can't lose."

Mismagius was getting frustrated now. She used Ominous Wind on Quill, then Shadow Ball on Aamira. She aimed another Shadow Ball at Lucario, but he was able to dodge by jumping. Then Lucario used Aura Sphere and hit Mismagius. Aamira ran behind her and used a second Aura Sphere.

"Enough of that!" Mismagius used Spite. 

Aamira tried to use Aura Sphere again, but it didn't work. "What's going on?" 

"Spite is an attack that stops the opponent from using the last attack they used." Quill said. "You can't use Aura Sphere anymore." 

"But we can still use our other attacks. Here's one my father taught me." A dark orb appeared in Lucario's hands and waves of dark aura came from it and hit Mismagius. 

Mismagius cringed. "How is it that you learned Dark Pulse? I would know if you learned an attack like that."

"Yea, you keep an annoyingly close watch on everyone around you." Lucario said. "But like I just said, my father taught me that one. You weren't around when I learned it so you never saw me use it."

"You don't have a father. You were orphaned and left for me to take care of." 

"I was orphaned but not as soon as you think." A rod made out of aura appeared in his hands. He attacked Mismagius with it a few times before it disappeared. Lucario stood there panting.

Mismagius recovered quickly and used Ominous Wind followed up by Shadow Ball. Lucario fell on the ground with his arms around his stomach where the Shadow Ball had hit him. 

"Lucario…" Aamira ran over to him. "Lucario, what's wrong?" 

"I'm fine…" he said, trying got get up, but Aamira wasn't letting him. 

"That's not what you meant. You just suddenly lost it. What happened?" 

"It was Dark Pulse." Shaymin flew down by them. "Dark Pulse is an attack that uses a Dark Aura made by negative thoughts and memories. It probably reminded him of what Mismagius did."

"I'm fine now. It won't happen again." Lucario got back up. "A Lucario should know how to master its emotions…" 

Aamira didn't think that he was alright, but they needed to stop Mismagius and wipe that smirk off her face.

"The whole lot of you are pathetic. I should just get rid of you right now." Mismagius used Ominous Wind on all of them. Shaymin had to dig his front paws into the ground to keep from blowing away. Since Quill was less effected by it, he stood in front of Aamira and Lucario to shield them from most of the attack. 

"Are you alright, Quill?" Lucario asked. 

"Yea, I'm fine." He said. "Now let's finish this battle!" 

Quill used Flame Wheel. Mismagius dodged, but while she was turned around Shaymin was able to use Air Slash. Aamira used Force Palm, and even though it had hit it made Aamira get too close. Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Aamira before she had the chance to back away. Lucario tried to use Force Palm, but Mismagius dodged and countered with Shadow Ball. Quill used Flamethrower and this time hit Mismagius. The fight went on like this for what felt like hours. Then things started to turn in the favor of Team Sleuth.

Mismagius fired another Shadow ball at Aamira. That was it for her. Aamira was knocked out, but then started glowing and was revived.

"Heh, it's a good thing we picked up a few Reviver Seeds before coming here." Quill said. 

Mismagius used Ominous Wind on Lucario, who was nearly down for the count at this point. Mismagius used Shadow Ball. Aamira jumped in front of Lucario and instinctively used Aura Sphere. The Aura Sphere and Shadow Ball combined somehow resulting in an explosion of pure energy. Mismagius, Aamira, and Lucario were each blown backwards. Somehow Lucario and Aamira had escaped any serious injuries, but Mismagius was now cringing on the ground in pain. It didn't look like she would be able to get up again. 

"Is it finally over?" Shaymin said. Some clouds started gathering in the sky overhead and it started to rain lightly. 

"Hey, Aamira! Look!" Quill pointed over to Charmeleon. 

He had woken up, no doubt because of the rain, and was struggling to get up. "Hey, what happened here? Looks like there was an all out war, but I can't remember a thing." 

The looked around them. It did look like there had been a war taking place here; the landscape was destroyed, there were small plants uprooted all over the place, and the patches of dirt that were no longer covered in grass were being turned to mud by the rain. But that's not all they noticed. All around them their friends had started to wake up. 

Mismagius struggled to get up. While she was able to float a few inches in the air, she couldn't get her entire body off of the ground. "All of you! Attack them, now!" She ordered the pokemon around them. 

"Yea? And why should we?" Aipom slammed the hand on the end of her tail angrily on the ground. "You hurt our friends and we don't have to listen to you anymore!" 

"Give us one good reason why we shouldn't attack you right here and now." Sceptile said angrily, obviously still enraged over finding out that the whole time he thought Meganium was gone for good she was stuck in another world that Mismagius had brought her to.

"Do what you want, but I'm warning you, I'm not giving up just yet. You're even greater fools that I thought if you think I'm going to let myself be defeated by you lot!" Mismagius was able to rise completely off of the ground. Her eyes started to glow. At that moment there was a flash of lightning so bright and a clap of thunder so loud that no one saw it happened and no one heard Aamira and Lucario's screams. 

When the light from the flash of lightning faded, there were three more pokemon standing next to Mismagius. Two of them, A Machamp and Machoke were holding onto Aamira and Lucario. Lucario had been knocked unconscious when the Machamp had attacked him, but because of the Reviver Seed Aamira had used a while back Aamira hadn't been knocked out and was still fighting feebly to get away. 

"Aamira!" Quill ran to help her, but then the third pokemon, A Scyther, raised one of it's blades to Lucario's throat. 

"I think you get it now." Mismagius said. "You remember when I said there was something I needed? Well it was actually someone. Aamira. By stealing her aura, I can open a gateway to another dimension where the Origin Egg resides." 

"But if you steal her aura…" Shaymin said. "If you do that, Aamira will…" 

"You think I care?" Mismagius asked. "If you try anything, Lucario will be the one to suffer seeing as how I still need Aamira. But I think it's best that you let one friend go than have to lose both of them." 

"No…" Quill said weakly. 

"Yes!" Mismagius vanished along with Aamira, Lucario, and the other three pokemon. Her voice echoed from the tower floating on the cloud above them. "But let me give you something else to worry about so you're not too concerned about your friend's safety!" about a dozen more pokemon appeared and surrounded them. 

"What do we do now?" Meganium said in a panic. They were all weak from their earlier battle, and now they were outnumbered two to one. 

"Shaymin, go help Aamira and Lucario." Quill said. 

"No way." Shaymin said. "They can take care of themselves. For now you guys are the ones that need help."

"I'm sorry, Aamira, but you'll have to suffer for just a little bit longer." Mismagius said. "No one can fly or teleport straight to the top of the tower, so we'll just have to go through it." 

Aamira had stopped resisting a while ago. She didn't want Lucario to get hurt and as weak as she was at the minute it would be pointless anyway. Lucario finally woke up. He seemed confused about what had just happened for a moment, but then noticed Aamira half conscious who had obviously given up hope. Something seemed to well up inside of him at the sight. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he managed to escape by using the spikes on his hands. The Machamp that had been holding him yelled in pain and ran backwards. Then Lucario used Aura Sphere on Machoke and gave Aamira just enough time to escape. 

"Why bother resisting?" Mismagius said. "I can finish both of you off in one attack. Don't you think that it was strange that this whole time I've only used three attacks?" Lucario and Aamira braced themselves for the attack. "So now I'll show you my strongest attack, the one that I've spent years perfecting. Shadow Sneak!" 

Mismagius turned herself into the shadow and sped along the ground towards Aamira. Aamira closed her eyes and braced herself for the attack, but it never came. Instead, she heard Mismagius scream and opened her eyes to see Lucario standing there with the Aura Scepter's base touching Mismagius's shadow. Mismagius had turned back into a Mismagius and was now floating in the air next to the Aura Scepter with her eyes wide with fear. 

"I can't move!" She said. 

"This is for my father, the former king of Atra!" Lucario said.

"What? The king was your father! This whole time I had the heir to the throne in my castle and had no idea?" 

"You said that you easily found out that I was Shade. I guess you didn't find out everything. It's a good thing that bug on Aamira wasn't active until after I finished telling them about it. That night you got rid of my father in the woods, I was there. I was going to help him but what he said stopped me. Don't you remember? 'Even if you get rid of me, there will always be someone lurking in the dark waiting for a chance to stop you.' So I waited, though it pained me, for this chance. And now that it's come, it's over for you!"

Mismagius laughed, still trying to resist being drawn into the Aura Scepter. "Haven't you learned yet? I escaped before, and I'll escape again some time in the future when you're long dead. What is there to stop me?"

"I guess…." Lucario clutched the Nightmare Gem in one hand and kept the other on the Aura Scepter. "I'll have to stop you." Lucario took his hand away from the Nightmare Gem and put it on the Pure Quartz at the top of the Scepter. 

"Wait, Lucario!" Aamira yelled. "What are you doing?" 

"I'm sealing myself in the Scepter with Mismagius. This way if she ever tries to escape again, I'll stop her. She'll never get loose again." 

"No! Please don't!" Aamira cried out to him. 

"I'm sorry, Aamira, but I have to do it as the true king of Atra!" Tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to leave you. To me you were more than a friend or a student. And even though we didn't like each other when we first met, even if you can't remember that now, I can't imagine going on without you, even though I know I have to. 

"Oh how touching!" Mismagius said. "You sure seem to care a lot about her, even though she's destined to disappear one way or another at the end of this!" 

Aamira and Lucario, both with tears in their eyes, fell silent at Mismagius's words. 

"Don't tell me you didn't even know! Don't you understand that legend?" Mismagius said. "Everything in a mirror is opposite of what it really is, right? So after the mirror is mentioned in the legend everything in the legend is opposite of what's really meant to happen!"

Aamira jumped. 'She's right. Why didn't I see it before? So, what would that mean exactly? Quill will be depressed, Shaymin won't be able to get home, Lucario will be sealed in the Aura Scepter… And I'll… disappear…?' 

"Aamira…" Lucario said. "Do you still want to save the world?" 

Aamira shook the tears out of her eyes. "Of course I do! I want to save everyone!" 

"Are you positive?" Lucario asked. "Quill has become not only one of your best friends, but also your teammate and brother. If you were to suddenly disappear, how would that leave him feeling? You've got a big decision to make here." 

Aamira didn't speak for a while. "I still want to save everyone!" She was crying harder than ever now. "I don't want anyone else to have to suffer just because I became too selfish at the end of all of this and didn't do a thing! Even if I'm not around, it would be better for Quill to live in a world at peace than one in complete chaos! And even if it means I won't ever see you or Quill or anyone else, I'll save everyone even if it means I have to disappear!" 

Lucario smiled weakly. "You're either the bravest or the craziest Riolu I ever met. And I respect that." 

"Aamira! Lucario!" It was Quill. Shaymin was flying towards them and Quill was hanging on for his life. When both of them landed they looked around at the scene that was taking place. "What's going on." 

Aamira was still crying as hard as ever. "Lucario is sealing Mismagius and himself in the Aura Scepter so she'll never be able to escape again…" 

"What? That's crazy!" Quill said. 

"But it was my decision to make!" Lucario said. "Aamira. Remember everything I ever taught you and I know you'll all be able to finish this mission. And remember, no matter how bleak the situation may seem and how desperate things may get, never lose hope because there's always at least a little light at the end of the tunnel. And who knows? Maybe we'll see each other again someday." 

"Stop this now!" Mismagius shouted. "If you go through with this then I'll take my anger out on you for the rest of eternity! You'll pay dearly for every happy moment you've ever had until you lose your mind!"

"All of those years I've lived with you, knowing what you were really up to and you don't think I've already lost my mind?" Lucario shouted. "And anyway, I can't stop it now." Lucario turned his head back towards Aamira. Though there were still tears in his eyes, he smiled broadly. "I'll see ya around…" Lucario and Mismagius both started to glow until they were nothing but two bright lights. Then the two of them were pulled into the Pure Quartz at the top of the staff. 

Aamira fell to her hands and knees, unable to believe what had just happened. She screamed at the sky at the top of her lungs as if that would somehow bring him back, but of course nothing happened. All that remained of Lucario was his cloak, the Nightmare Gem, and the Aura Scepter. 

"Are you alright….?" Quill asked. Aamira couldn't bring herself to answer. 

"This is all my fault!" Shaymin said. "If I had just come up here to help you like Quill asked me to this might not have happened!" 

"No…" Aamira said. "I have a feeling he had intended this to happen from the beginning…" And then she realized what she must have been blind not to see. Secret Keeper. They had figured that Aamira knew from the start that she was supposed to save the world, but didn't tell anyone so they wouldn't be worried. But that had been before she lost her memory. Now she understood. She did know that she would save the world, and she also knew that she would disappear at the end. She hadn't told Lucario because she didn't want him to worry, but it didn't matter now anyway. The least she could do was not tell Quill so he wouldn't try to stop her like she was sure he would. 

Aamira wiped the tears from her eyes, got up, and walked over to where Lucario had been standing. 

"Are you going to be okay?" Quill asked. 

"Yea." Aamira said. "I'll be fine." 

Shaymin walked up to the Aura Scepter and pulled it out of the ground. "Listen, I feel horrible for this whole thing, even if you say it's not my fault this had to happen. I'll take this back to Atra and hide it somewhere no one will ever find it. And maybe even though I failed at protecting the Looking Glass, I'll do better guarding the Aura Scepter." 

"But didn't you want to go home? You'd rather be stuck in the world of darkness guarding that?" Aamira asked. 

"It doesn't matter anymore!" Shaymin said furiously, more to himself than anyone else. "I'll never be able to return to a normal life after everything that's happened here. I could never forgive myself if I did that." 

"If that's what you've decided, then I guess we'll see you around." Aamira said, even though she knew this wasn't entirely true… "And… we're really grateful for everything you've done to help us." 

Shaymin forced a smile, then took the Aura Scepter between his two front paws and flew off.

"So what now?" Quill asked. 

"What do you think?" Aamira said. "We keep going. This is our only chance and we don't have much more time." She took the Dream Amulet from around her neck and gave it to Quill. "I want you to hold onto that." 

"But why?" Quill asked. 

"I don't know what it would be like to wear two gems that contain conflicting auras, so take that one just in case." Aamira picked up the Nightmare Gem and put it around her neck, then put on Lucario's cloak. 

The two of them looked up at the tower looming in front of them for a moment, before Aamira finally spoke again. "Whatever way this ends, Shade will save the world."


	37. Chapter 37 Aamira's Goodbye

"Are you sure you're alright?" Quill asked Aamira. 

Aamira was smiling, though it was hard with how agitated she was becoming. "I've told you a hundred times, I'm fine!" 

"I just want to make sure. There's no telling what's ahead of us." Quill said guiltily. 

"I know, you're right. So what floor are we on?" 

"Thirteen. And I don't think we're anywhere near the top yet." 

The two of them kept walking for a while before Aamira finally spoke again. "You don't have to worry about me, you know that. And I know you can feel my emotions so why even ask how I feel?"

Quill glared at Aamira. "If I remember right you used to hate me being able to feel all of your emotions because it felt like I was reading your mind. So I just tried to get used to it and not make a big deal of it like you did from the start. And besides, I can feel that deep down you're really scared of something. You're scared of what's going to happen, aren't you?" 

Aamira didn't say anything. What Quill said was too true to admit. Aamira finally realized how she was supposed to save the world. Some time ago in Atra when they had first joined up with Lucario, Lucario explained about one of the Aura Reader's abilities. It was called Aura Restore. Basically it turns any aura back to the way it was originally, but it took up a lot of energy. The only way it would even work would be if they made it to the top before the next morning. Since that night was the full moon, somehow she would get more energy from these plants called Lunar Flowers, but it would still call for too much energy, which in the end would cause Aamira to completely disappear.

Aamira had decided some time ago that she didn't have much of a choice. It was the only way to save the world. It did scare Aamira though. What was it like to disappear? Would it have been like she never existed? Or would she go to some place that everyone goes to after they died? Now that she thought about it, Aamira had never even heard of any real religions in the pokemon world. Then another thought came to her. Where did ghost type pokemon come from? What if she ended up something like Mismagius? But that would only happen if she had any aura left and if she did she wouldn't need to worry about disappearing in the first place. Even though their team was made to solve mysteries, this mystery seemed to have to be solved the hard way… 

"Well, I'm still waiting." Quill said. 

"Huh?" Aamira turned to him. "Oh, yea… Well, I remember Ceilia saying something. She said that it was natural for everyone to fear the unknown. But what if something goes wrong?" 

"Well, if that happens, we tried our best." Quill said. "And if we end up stuck in a world of chaos, well at least we'll be together and with all of our friends too." 

"How could you be so confident?" 

"I don't know. I guess it's because I'm with you. You know, before you showed up I was such a coward that I burnt everything that I walked near. But ever since you showed up I've felt like we could do anything together. It's because you were always so confident that I felt confident too. I guess now I'm kind of scared too because you are, but I know as long as we're together everything will work out in the end." 

Aamira nodded. "You don't need to worry about me though. I'm sad about Lucario, sure, but since it just suddenly happened like that… I guess it was just sort of a shock so I still can't really believe that it did happen. So it doesn't really feel like anything happened. It scared me though."

"Yea, I understand. You were both pretty close. It's gotten to the point where it's a little weird to be here with you and not be able to see Lucario. It seemed like whenever you were around, he was too as if he was trying to never leave you alone." 

Aamira remembered Lucario's promise. He promised that he would make sure that she was never alone again. But why would he promise something like that when he had decided to seal himself in that staff with Mismagius? Had it just been pity, or was it something else? Some Aura Reader Aamira had turned out to be; she couldn't even figure out what her own friend was doing. But, now that Quill had mentioned it, Lucario had always been there. He knew that soon they would have to be apart and maybe never even see each other again, so he wanted them to spend as much time together as possible. 

Aamira's eyes filled with tears again. 

"Okay, now I know you're not okay! Did I say something?" 

Aamira wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Lucario's really gone. I'll never get the chance to see him again and I never even got the chance to tell him how I felt… It's just that none of this is fair! We work so hard and risk everything to save everyone and this is what happens!" 

"Yea, but this isn't anything like a book you know?" Quill said. "In stories there's usually always a happy ending. In real life, I guess no one can really avoid having to make sacrifices. It's always when you think you have everything that you lose what's most important to you… Then you feel like you don't have anything." 

Aamira knew he meant his brother Shadow. His whole life Quill had thought that he had been the cause of his little brother's death and now he finds out that he was actually alive this whole time right before Mismagius got to him. They all lost something, and now Aamira was about to lose more. But was Quill willing to lose more? That was the whole reason Aamira had decided not to mention it to him. And now no matter how Aamira tried to distract herself, those thoughts kept coming to her. 

'Quill's right, but I really don't have anything anymore. He's all I have really, and he feels the same way I do about this. So in a way, it's almost like I don't have anything to lose either way.' "Well, we're still here together, at least. And you're the best little brother I ever could have hoped for." 

Quill smiled. "Right. I guess when I was trying to cheer you up, I was really just trying to cheer myself up too. But you're right. We're together, which is one thing that both of us have." 

'For now…' Aamira couldn't help thinking. 

"But you know…" Quill said. "Even if we did get separated somehow, I'm not sure if we would really even feel alone. You remember what I told you my mom used to say? 'In times of crisis you have to cast aside what you want, forget what you've lost, and be grateful for the things you still have and will have in the future.' But the 'forget what you've lost' part sounds sort of harsh the way things are now. But the 'be grateful for the things you still have' part is true. I think that what it really means is that you can't be selfish when others need your help, don't let what you've lost cloud your mind, and hold on to your memories because that's all you really need. Ironic since this whole thing sort of started with your losing your memory. But think about it. Because you did lose your memory, most of your memories must be of our team, right? Now that I think about it, we haven't even been apart for a full day before. So as long as we don't forget each other, it's sort of like we're always together because both of us sort of have a part of the other in our memories." 

Aamira stopped and stood rooted to the spot, staring at the ground. 

Quill stopped and turned around. "Hey, are you okay?" 

Aamira looked up at him. "Thanks Quill." 

Quill seemed a little confused. "For what? I didn't do anything." 

"You've done everything you could have. To tell you the truth, before I doubt I would have had the courage or the strength to go on. I might have even given up at the last minute. But you're right. As long as we're in each other's memories, a part of us will never leave each other. There's no reason left to worry." Aamira smiled confidently. 

"Yea! So let's keep going!" Quill said with an equally confident smile. 

Aamira followed after him. 'I can do this. I know I can. And even if I do disappear, a part of me will always be alive inside Quill's memories. And the rest of our friends too!' 

The two of them battled the rest of the way through the dungeon. All thirty five floors of it, making it undoubtedly the longest dungeon they had ever gone through. At the top of the tower was a giant mirror that stretched the whole east side of the tower and rose at least twenty or thirty feet into the air. The storm that had started so suddenly during their battle with Mismagius had ended and night had fallen, though still really bright since they were in the world of light, and the full moon hung faintly in the sky, though it didn't seem to shine like it did in their world. All around them blue-white flowers had burst into bloom and were glowing in the color of moonlight. 

"You know how some people say that everything has a smell?" Aamira asked. "Well, I think moonlight does too. And that's what these flowers smell like." 

"What, it's not enough that Lucario and Riolu can sense aura, they also have to have better senses in everything else?" Quill asked sarcastically.

"I'm serious. These smell like moonlight and the Solar Flowers in Atra smelled like sunlight. The Solar Flowers smell warm and welcoming, and these Lunar Flowers smell cold, but reassuring." Aamira's voice trailed off. 'But isn't that how Lucario always acted? I guess it's ironic in a way since he comes from Atra…' 

"Hey, look over there." Quill pointed to the mirror. "Someone broke the lower right corner off. And there are cracks spreading all over the mirror." 

Aamira looked closer at the mirror. Sure enough there were some fragments missing from the lower right corner and there were cracks spreading from there to every edge of the mirror. "It must have been Mismagius. That must be where she got the Mirror Shards that she used to control people." 

"It looks like the whole mirror might collapse at any minute…" Quill said. "Maybe that's why we don't have much time." Quill took a few steps to get closer. "In every piece of the mirror, it looks like there's another world. I can't believe that all of these mirror shards actually reflects a different world. There are just so many." 

"Well, come on. We don't have much time. The nights here don't last long and already the moon is starting to set." Aamira led the way towards the mirror, but stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Quill asked. 

"I thought I just saw something… In a few pieces of the mirror I thought I saw something huge move by it." 

"Maybe you're still just a little shaken…" Quill said. 

"Yea, maybe." Aamira took another step towards the mirror and heard Quill yelp. 

"I saw it!" he said. "Sort of big and black, right?"

"So I wasn't just imagining it?" 

All of the reflections of the different worlds suddenly vanished from the mirror and were replaced by the head of a large dragon that seemed to be coming straight towards them! Aamira and Quill shouted in surprise and ran for it. To their surprise, the dragon actually did come through the mirror and landed right in front of them. It was a serpent-like dragon with six tentacle-like wings with a red claw at the end of each. Its neck was covered in what seemed to be yellow armor and its tail was armed with spikes. Its eyes and the stripes covering its body were all glowing a dangerous looking red color and it's head was shaped like a spear. 

"What is that!" Quill shouted out of fear. 

"I am Giratina." The dragon said in a voice that seemed to be a mix between a male's and a female's. "I am the guardian of the Looking Glass. You shall not pass me. You shall not shatter the Looking Glass." 

"We're not trying to shatter it, we're trying to save it!" Quill said frantically. 

Giratina roared. It was so loud that more of the glass shattered and small pieces fell to the ground. "Liars! I know someone came here and tried to shatter it once before. I know you intend to finish what they started! For like the previous intruder, the two of you do not come from this world! Only the worthy can go near it!" 

"So what do we have to do to be 'worthy'?" Aamira asked. 

"You must defeat me!" Giratina roared again and used Dragon Breath, which the two of them were just barely able to avoid.

The two of them prepared to fight Giratina, but it had disappeared. Then it suddenly reappeared under Aamira and attacked. 

Quill ran over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine." Aamira got up, though in a bit of pain. "I forgot about Shadow Force, Giratina's special move." 

"We can still beat him though! We have to!" Quill said. 

Giratina flew close by them. Quill used Flame Thrower and was lucky enough to burn Giratina. Unfortunately, it didn't even seem to annoy it. Giratina's claw-like wings shot towards them. Aamira was able to dodge, but Quill wasn't as lucky. Fortunately it didn't seem as strong as Shadow Force. Giratina used Dragon breath again, which they were both able to avoid. Quill used Flame Wheel and hit Giratina on what they figured was its neck. Aamira followed up with Quick Attack, but Giratina was able to avoid it. Aamira used Aura Sphere, which of course, hit. 

'No!' She thought. 'I need to save up my aura. I can't use Aura Sphere!' 

Giratina used Dragon Breath and hit Aamira, pushing her further back from the Looking Glass. Quill used Swift, but Giratina was able to dodge it by using Shadow Force. This time, he attacked Quill. Aamira used Drain punch and Force palm and Giratina threw her back with Ancient Power before she could attack a third time. Giratina used Dragon Breath and the two of them just barely avoided it. Quill used Flame Wheel again and this time Giratina dodged it. Aamira used Quick Attack again and was able to hit Giratina again. But before she could use another attack, Giratina threw her back with another Ancient Power. 

The two of them were getting tired and while Giratina was starting to weaken, it didn't seem that they would be able to last much longer against it. 

Giratina used Shadow Force on Aamira and Quill used Flamethrower as soon as it came out of the shadows. They had to hurry. If the moon set before they could defeat Giratina, all would be lost. While Quill distracted Giratina with Swift, Aamira ran up its tail and used Force Palm on the back of it's head. Giratina fell to the ground. For a second, they thought they had won, but then Giratina vanished again and used Shadow Force on Quill. Quill used Flame Thrower and Aamira used Drain Punch. Both attacks miraculously hit, but Giratina didn't look like it was willing to give up any time soon. It used Dragon Breath on Quill, but Aamira blocked it with Drain Punch. Giratina flew up high into the air then came flying down towards them while using Dragon Claw. This time, neither of them were able to avoid it. But just like Giratina, neither of them was willing to give up. They couldn't afford to give up with so much on the line. 

"I have an idea." Quill said to Aamira. "Throw me towards Giratina and use Drain Punch to give me a burst of speed. And don't hold back." 

"What? Are you sure?" Aamira said. But then it occurred to her that since Drain Punch wasn't an attack that was very effective against Cyndaquil, it probably wouldn't do too much damage. "Alright if you're sure." 

Aamira did what Quill asked her to do. Quill flew through the air towards Giratina and used Flame Wheel. It hit Giratina on the side of his head as he tried to dodge and Giratina fell to the ground. 

Quill landed a few feet in front of Aamira. "Did we… win?" 

"I think so…" Aamira said. 

"Well, come on! We don't have much time!" Quill ran towards the Looking Glass, but Aamira suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back just in time to avoid Giratina's Dragon Breath.

"How did you know I was going to do that?" Giratina asked. 

"You're the renegade pokemon." Aamira said. "Treachery is what you're good at. Even after all of that fighting, it still seemed too easy to defeat you since you're a legendary pokemon."

"If you hadn't pulled him out of the way, he would have been defeated…" Giratina said. "What does that one mean to you?"

"He's like my younger brother. And besides, I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt if it could be avoided. Even if it was an enemy I would have helped them if they truly needed help." 

"Please, Giratina!" Quill said. "We're not trying to shatter the Looking Glass! A pokemon named Mismagius has been trying to use it to get to the Origin Egg and replace the worlds that already exist with a new one. We defeated her with some help from our friends, but now if we can't save the Looking Glass, aura everywhere will be completely distorted and everything would fall into chaos. Please believe us! We're only trying to help!" 

"This is exactly what that pokemon said." Giratina said thoughtfully. "That pokemon was given an opportunity, but nearly destroyed the Looking Glass. If I couldn't trust that pokemon, why could I trust you?" 

"You shouldn't trust us…" Aamira thought out loud. "After everything that's happened here, why should you ever trust anyone? But I think maybe that's what really turned you into the renegade pokemon to begin with…" 

"Perhaps there is a way for you to prove how trustworthy you are. This test will be even harder than defeating me. If you're as caring as you claim to be, you would prefer that to hurting me." The Looking Glass behind Giratina turned a steely black color and the cracks were barely visible now. "You, small one, look into the Looking Glass." 

"Look into it? Okay…" Quill took a few steps forward until he could see his reflection. Giratina kept his eyes on Quill and Aamira kept her eyes on Giratina. 

"What do you see?" Giratina asked. 

Quill took a while to answer. "I'm standing in Vine City. And there are some others there with me. There's Espeon, Typhlosion, Aamira… and… and Shadow." 

"And who are they?" Giratina asked. 

"They're… my family…" 

"So all you really want is for you and your family to live a peaceful life together back where you come from." Giratina said thoughtfully. "Okay, now you look into it." 

Aamira stood where Quill was a few moments ago and looked into it, admittedly excited as to what she would see. Soon it came into view. "I'm in Vine City too. Only I'm standing by the lake with Lucario." Aamira's eyes flooded with tears again at the sight. 

"Is that all you see?" Giratina asked. 

Aamira half didn't want to look at the mirror again, but did anyway since a part of her still wanted to see Lucario. Then she saw something that she didn't notice before. "There's another pokemon there too. It's… It's Mismagius!" 

"Mismagius?" Quill said. "What does this mirror do anyway?" 

"The way it is now, it reflects a person's heart." Giratina explained. "You, young and innocent and probably never really knowing your family, see yourself with them. And your friend, who has suffered recent losses, sees herself with the one she loved. But I did not expect you to see that pokemon in your heart." 

Aamira was still looking at the Mismagius reflection. "This Mismagius is different somehow… her eyes seem… warmer. And kinder. And she's smiling like always, but it's not an evil smile… it's a happy one…" 

"I see…" Giratina said. "After all that's happened, you cannot bring yourself to feel hatred. Instead, you feel pity. For you know that had things been different, you might have been friends. You have… a kind heart… and if you think you can save the Looking Glass, then I'll chose to trust you."

"Really?" Aamira said. The image in the Looking Glass faded and it returned to how it was before. 

"That pokemon came here long ago seeking answers… Why, I still don't know." Giratina said. "When that pokemon looked at the Looking Glass, that pokemon saw something that excited it. But that pokemon's greed and ambition was too great for that pokemon's own good. That pokemon rushed towards the Looking Glass and ran into it. The Looking Glass shattered and I attacked that pokemon, causing it to retreat to the world it had come from."

"So that's what happened." Quill said. "I bet she wanted to see something that would give her more power than anyone and she saw the origin egg. She tried to get to it, but ended up hitting the Looking Glass." 

"I think you might be right." Aamira said.

"The moon is setting." Giratina said. "Soon the second sun will be up and the power of the Lunar Flowers will fade. If you are to have enough power to restore the mirror and stop the aura distortion, you must do it now." 

Aamira ran to the mirror and put her hands on it. Something about it sent a chill up her spine. She had to focus her energy. 'I have to save everyone!' She thought. 'Because right now, I'm the only one who can!' She could feel her aura flowing into the mirror as if it were a giant sponge, but it was happening to quick. At this rate she would disappear before anything could really happen. 

All around them the Lunar Flowers started to glow brighter. As if a strong wind was blowing them, the pollen in the flowers flew through the air towards Aamira and started to float around her. She could feel the energy of the Lunar Flowers joining her own and both her energy and the Lunar Flowers flowing into the Looking Glass. 

"Pay no attention to you eyes." Giratina said. "Though you cannot see it, it is working." 

Yes, Aamira could feel it working somehow. She was starting to shake now. Not out of fear for what was about to happen, but out of exhaustion. She collapsed to her knees, but dared not take her hands off of the Looking Glass until she knew it would be saved. But now she was starting to get dizzy. How much longer would she be able to keep this up? Then suddenly, everything went dark and Aamira collapsed.

Far below the tower, an all out war was being waged between all the Investigation Teams from the world of shadows and Mismagius's army. 

"We would have been doomed if you hadn't shown up." Weavile said to Noctowl as the two of them watched the fighting between the Investigation Teams and Mismagius's brainwashed pokemon army. 

"I never thought you really meant that we would need every Investigation Team. But why aren't you fighting with everyone else?" Noctowl asked. 

"To explain why I did what I did. You see, though I searched and searched I could not find the answer to peace. Eventually I figured it must not even exist. But then some strange things happened that led me to figuring out the answer." 

"You're saying you knew the answer to world peace?" Noctowl said. 

"Yes, but it meant having to join Mismagius. I didn't like it, trust me, but I knew a fight like this was coming."

"So you're saying this is the answer to peace?" Noctowl said. "All of this fighting?" 

"That's the only conclusion I could come to." Weavile said. "But if you don't believe me, look over there." Weavile pointed over towards Charmeleon. An Onyx was using Rock Throw and right when it seemed it was going to hit him, a Water Gun pushed it away from him. The one who had protected Charmeleon was Milotic. 

Noctowl smiled and chuckled. "Ignis and Aequor fighting together for a common cause." 

"Yes. But not only that. Both of them were in the resistance, you know? And I know from seeing the two of them in person, they're fierce rivals. Maybe even more than that. They would normally tear each other apart first chance they get." 

"So you're saying when there's an enemy strong enough, even the worst of enemies would come together to defeat it." Noctowl said. "So that's the secret to peace… And it wouldn't even have to be an army. It could be just a simple problem like an energy crisis or something like that. Surely with everyone united an answer would always come." 

"There's an old legend." Weavile said. "It is said that the day all pokemon can learn to live in peace, Ho-oh will return. I wonder if that's true or if maybe Ho-oh ever existed at all. Could it be that Ho-oh is really just a pokemon used to represent something… more?"

"Who knows?" Noctowl said. "And who knows if we'll ever know. It seems that there are just some things that not even an Aura Reader can learn." 

Aamira woke up to an unfamiliar scene. She was lying in a flower field that was surrounded by trees. In the very center of the field was an enormous crystal clear lake. The sky above blazed with the light from the sun, though it didn't seem as bright as it was in Desolo. Was she back in the shadow world? 

"Hey! You're finally awake!" It was Quill standing there beside her. 

Aamira got up unsteadily. Was she imagining it, or was her energy still ebbing away? Either way, it didn't keep her from noticing that every pokemon they knew was there. All of them started cheering when Aamira got up. 

"We did it!" Quill said. "We saved everyone!" 

"That you did." A shadow crossed over the mirror-like surface of the lake and Giratina appeared, only it looked a little different. It only had one set of shadowy wings and instead of being in a serpent form, it now had six legs. Everyone was startled by the appearance of the colossal pokemon, but calmed down when it didn't attack. "Now listen, this is very important. Shards of the Looking Glass have been spread far and wide and even into different worlds, so though it might take time, aura everywhere will begin to go back to normal. And since this is the closest place in this world, Shroud Lake was the first to recover." 

"No way!" Aamira said. "This is Shroud Lake?" 

"Yea, can you believe it?" Quill said. "It doesn't even look like the Lake of Life the way it is now. There are Lunar Flowers, Solar Flowers, Gracidea Flowers, and a bunch of others too. There must be a flower for every color of the rainbow here. And look up!" 

Aamira looked up. There was a huge rainbow stretching across the sky, which was also being reflected in the lake. "You know, the rainbow is said to be a symbol of peace." 

Noctowl chuckled, causing a few people to turn to him, but he offered no explanation. 

"Before you woke up, everyone started thinking of a new name for the lake. There were a few good ones like Aura Lake and Rainbow Lake, but in the end we all decided to go with Weavile's idea, Lake Harmony." 

"I think that's perfect." Aamira said through a smile. 

"I must return to Origin Tower." Giratina said. "Now that the Looking Glass is starting to repair itself, I must make sure nothing else happens." Giratina slipped into the lake and vanished.

"Hey! We should have a celebration!" Aipom said. "It will be like a new holiday and once every year people from every country go to a different country to celebrate. And since we're already here, this year it will be in Silva." 

"That's an excellent idea." Noctowl said. 

While everyone was talking excitedly about the party, Aamira had something on her mind. 'I know I'm not imagining it.' She thought. 'I can feel it. My energy is still getting weaker…' her head was throbbing and she was still shaking all over. 

"Hey, come on Aamira, let's…" Quill stopped in mid sentence. "Aamira! What's happening!" 

Aamira raised both of her arms. Though it was faint, she could just barely see Quill right through them. 'So this is it…' She thought. 

"Quill, I'm sorry…" She said. "And everyone. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to worry." 

"What's going on?" Quill asked.

"Remember when Lucario was explaining Aura Restore?" Aamira asked. "He said a lot of kings died trying to bring their loved ones back to life by using up all of their energy. I think saving every world in existence would be a lot for anyone…"

"So… You're just going to disappear?" Quill said sadly with tears in his eyes. 

Aamira smiled and nodded. "Mismagius told me that I would before she was sealed in the Aura Scepter. For once she was telling the truth. But it was a small sacrifice for countless worlds, right?" 

"Well I don't think so!" Quill said. "What am I going to do without you? You're like my older sister…" 

"And you're like my younger brother, and nothing will ever change that…" There was a faint glow around Aamira now and a lot of the people watching could see the lake right through her. "But we'll always be together, because I'll never vanish as long as you go on. I'll go on in your memories and in the memories of everyone else too…" 

"But… I'm still going to miss you." 

"And I'll miss you, but I'm afraid there's no other way. But now, everyone will know what happened and nothing like this will ever happen again. So keep the team going in my place. Alright!" 

Quill was trying to stop crying, but gave up and just nodded. 

Aamira kneeled down next to Quill and hugged him. "This is goodbye…" 

Quill started crying even harder and hugged Aamira back. "PLEASE DON'T GO!" But then Aamira vanished and Quill fell to his hands and knees. 'See ya…' 

Most of the pokemon at Lake Harmony were crying now. What was a happy scene not long ago, was now one of ultimate sadness. Out of the corner of Quill's eye, he thought for sure that he saw a giant bird pokemon glowing in seven different colors fly over the rainbow, but no one else seemed to notice.


	38. Epilogue

The early morning sunlight shone through the window of the Treehouse and ignited the flames on Quill's back. He slowly opened his eyes. There was a rustling in the tree branches outside his window. Aipom suddenly appeared and climbed through the window.

"Rise and shine, sunshine!" she said as she squeezed through the window.

"Hiya Aipom." Quill said. "Wasn't your team going to go back and work for Special Services?"

"Not yet." Aipom said. "Not until I know you're alright."

"It's taking some getting used to, not being here with Aamira. I'm used to feeling her emotions first thing in the morning then going on an adventure with her. But I'll be fine, I promise."

"You sure?" Aipom asked.

"Positive. In fact, I was going to go on a mission today with Haunter."

Aipom did a back flip. "That's great, Quill!"

"But…" Quill clammed up suddenly. "I was wanting to go to Lake Harmony today… Just one more time before we go on a mission. So, would you come with me?"

Aipom laughed. "I knew it. You're not completely mentally healed yet. If you want me to, I will."

"Thanks." Quill got up and stretched and grabbed his Collection Bag out of habit and ran out the door. It was still pretty early and the sun had just risen. 'Hard to believe I used to have trouble getting up at this time…' he thought.

The two of them passed the Pokemon Research Academy, and ran through town square to the lake. Even though it was early, the flowers had already begun to bloom. But something seemed different about the lake today.

"The atmosphere feels different here, doesn't it?" Aipom asked.

"Oh good… I thought I was imagining it…" Quill said. Some fog had rolled in around the lake. "Weird, there hasn't been fog here since we renamed it Lake Harmony." Suddenly something occurred to Quill. He ran to the edge of the lake and looked around.

"What is it, Quill?" Aipom asked.

"Nothing…" Quill thought. "I just thought… It's nothing…"

He was about to turn away from the lake when he noticed a figure at the other end of the lake. The fog was twisting around in that area in a strange way and it looked like a pokemon had collapsed there.

'It can't be!' Without saying anything to Aipom he ran off around the edge of the lake. 'Please, please, please!' Though he knew the odds were zero at best, he kept running until he got to the pokemon who had collapsed on the other side of the lake. It was a Riolu wearing a cloak and a pendant in the shape of the crescent moon. "Aamira!" Quill shouted. "Aamira! Please wake up!"

Aipom ran over to see what Quill was yelling about. "No way… But… But how!"

"Who cares?" Quill said. "Aamira!"

The Riolu's eyes opened and she sat up. They seemed sort of hazy, but other than that she was alright. She looked around confused for a second, then turned to Quill.

"I can't believe it… You're back…"

Aamira tilted her head. "Do… Do I know you?"

Quill's heart fell into his stomach. He turned to Aipom who was looking at him sadly. He turned back to Aamira. "No… It can't be…"

Aamira continued to look at him in the same confused way. Then a broad, amused smile spread over her face.

"Hey!" Quill punched her in the arm and Aamira burst out laughing.

"Oh I got you good!" Aamira said through her laughter.

"You scared me!" Quill said. "Don't pretend to have amnesia ever again!"

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I disappear for the sake of saving the world." Aamira said with a smile

Aipom sighed desperately. "Kids… Now there's two of them I have to watch over…" All three of them laughed.

So Aamira and Quill continued their job as the leaders of Team Sleuth. Quill never felt Aamira's emotions the way he used to from that day on, and Aamira seemed to have lost her abilities as an Aura Reader. The two of them explored anywhere they could get to, and visited many new places that some people had only ever heard of. The two of them had no idea why Aamira had reappeared that day, but both of them were glad that she had. But saving the world wasn't the end of their adventures. Quite the contrary. But that's another story.


End file.
